MERCY WINS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:12-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here’s an absolute truth.

Everyone will face the judgment of God. Everyone.

Why can I say this with unquestionable certainty?

Because all are sinners and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) which is just another way of saying that no one is worthy of heaven.

God hates sin and He will despise anyone who intentionally goes against His righteous expectations for living. To so such disregard and disrespect for God is unacceptable and He will hold everyone and anyone accountable.

Here’s something else that gains the Lord’s displeasure. He bristles when people judge one another because only He is worthy of passing judgment.

And yet, people love to be judgmental. It seems to be a part of their DNA and it makes sense because sin and being judgmental go hand in hand.

And so here’s where we find ourselves: God will judge us all because of our sins and all of us judge others sinfully. It’s a very precarious position to be in but there is a solution, a way to help us overcome both of our issues.

What’s the solution?

Our scripture passage from James 2 tells us in four short words:

Mercy triumphs over judgment. Or in other words, mercy wins and does so every time.

We only need to look to the cross to see where the purest, most perfect mercy was on full display. For God so loved the world that He did not wish to see His people perish because of their sins when He brings His judgment. And so He made a way for anyone to be saved, rescued from the damnation of sin by His only Son Jesus, and set free to live with Him forever. Through God’s mercy, His people receive the gift of victory over the grave when they believe in Christ as Savior.

This, and only this, is the way for mercy to win in our interactions with one another as we live this thing called life. We receive God’s mercy through His Son and then as we become Christians, we follow the lead of our Savior and extend mercy to all, avoiding the sin of being judgmental.

In other words, when we allow God’s mercy to win in our lives through Jesus then we in turn can extend that same mercy to one another. God’s mercy begets ours.

The scriptures are calling us to self examine ourselves today as we answer this question:

Am I judgmental or merciful in the way I treat others?

Reading our passage for today should definitely point you toward which of these two behaviors to adopt. I say this because God’s judgment, minus mercy, will be shown to anyone who willingly chooses to be unmerciful and no one should invite God’s judgment upon themselves. Mercy is the better and God-preferred option. It’s the anti-judgment conduct and we never lose when we use it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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