What does the Lord require of you but… to love kindness? Micah 6:8
The second dimension of our calling is to love kindness or mercy. To love mercy is not merely to show mercy, but to love it.
People who love mercy look for any opportunity to show it. We’ve talked about ways in which you may have wronged other people, but there are also situations in which other people have wronged you. Is there anyone in the business world who has not been treated unjustly?
If someone has wronged you, it is very likely that at some point God may bring about circumstances in which you have an opportunity to settle the score. What are you going to do? You can embarrass, humiliate, cold shoulder, penalize, ruin, or destroy that person. The options are endless, and delicious.
Maybe you had years of conflict with your father, so you punished him by not allowing him to see your children. Now he has died and you wish you had not done that. What you do when God puts you in a position where you can get even will reveal a great deal about your character.
What did Jesus do? Remember the story about the Pharisees who somehow caught a woman in the act of adultery and brought her to Jesus. He loved mercy by releasing her and telling her to “Go, and from now on sin no more” (John 8:11).
What difference would it make if you went out this week, actively looking for opportunities to show mercy? What if you did that for a month, a year, or a lifetime?
