Matthew 5:7  

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (NIV)

You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. (MSG)

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This is a good day for this verse. 

The app we use to send out these morning missives has not cooperated well this week. It has taken nearly fifteen minutes to move information from the word processor to the mail list manager. My bride pointed out this morning how yesterday’s devotion was intermingled with the devotion from the day before.

I am sorry for the schizophrenic feel this created. Hopefully, we have the bugs worked out this morning. We shall see.

Have you ever become so frustrated with apps, devices, and such that you really, really wanted to throw something really, really hard? Or maybe you wanted to punch something with all your might?

Yeah, me neither.

This verse reminds me of two things: 
1. I am a man in need of mercy. 
2. Everyone I meet is a person in need of mercy. 

As a beneficiary of the greatest of all mercies from our Father in heaven, I am ever more fully beginning to understand the humble reality of receiving such mercy. The more I understand this beautiful reality, the more I understand how I am to bear and to extend this offer of mercy. 

Mercy being mercy, the other guy, or gal, does not need to request my mercifulness. Yes, this is a made-up word. Your demonstration of mercy toward me for disrupting the smooth flow of words and ideas is greatly appreciated. Proverbs 19:11 says, “it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” 

A simple act of mercy halts a hundred unkind words. It heads off a hundred unnecessary arguments. It soothes a hundred ruffled feathers. This makes it feel like mercy given to others is not merely a gift to them, but to ourselves as well. I wonder if this is part of what Jesus meant when he said we are blessed when we are merciful? We receive mercy from ourselves when we show mercy to others? We untangle knots not yet tied. We solve problems before they are created. 

Just a thought. 

There are depths and heights to this idea we have yet to fully comprehend and appreciate. This is verse, a truth, worth pondering for the rest of our lives. 

How will you show mercy intentionally today? How many ways will those moments of mercy improve your life, your love, your relationships, and your work? 

Our Father, I am living proof of your mercy. Make me a merciful man. Empower me to lead with mercy in every conversation, every disagreement, every little problem threatening to blow up into something completely unmanageable and destructive. Amen.