Life according to Rebecca
Today I want to talk about compassion and mercy. I'm not talking about pity and cheap forgiveness; I'm talking about having compassion for people and having mercy on those around us. Compassion and mercy are things that are so close to my heart, mostly because without them I would be lost forever. I want to talk about these things without sounding cheesy, fake, or unrealistic so please bear with me as I work my way through this complicated idea.
For me, without the compassion and mercy of Christ I would be nothing. There is nothing that I have, nothing that I have done or could ever do that would save me from what I deserve. Without the intercession of Christ I have nothing to recommend myself to God. Because the sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free; for God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.
Because of this life changing compassion and mercy I feel compelled (not guilted, not manipulated, but drawn or called willingly) to give the same compassion and mercy to other people. I have been given this huge, amazing gift and how can I not share the same gift with other people? Knowing that Christ calls all to Him and has compassion, love, mercy, grace, etc on all the people of the world, how can I treat other people with derision, how can I justify to myself treating them as less than anything but the Children of God?
This does not mean that I think we live in a utopian society where it is all love and dancing teddy bears. It means that everyone gets the same basic human respect - no matter what. I am not naive about what someone can do to another human being and that there are monsters out there. But, until they are dead there is still hope for them. If I can't find it in myself to have compassion and mercy on someone, no matter what, then there is nothing that separates me from them, I am guilty of the same thing they are: having no regard for human life.
For me, without the compassion and mercy of Christ I would be nothing. There is nothing that I have, nothing that I have done or could ever do that would save me from what I deserve. Without the intercession of Christ I have nothing to recommend myself to God. Because the sinless Savior died, my guilty soul is counted free; for God the Just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me.
Because of this life changing compassion and mercy I feel compelled (not guilted, not manipulated, but drawn or called willingly) to give the same compassion and mercy to other people. I have been given this huge, amazing gift and how can I not share the same gift with other people? Knowing that Christ calls all to Him and has compassion, love, mercy, grace, etc on all the people of the world, how can I treat other people with derision, how can I justify to myself treating them as less than anything but the Children of God?
This does not mean that I think we live in a utopian society where it is all love and dancing teddy bears. It means that everyone gets the same basic human respect - no matter what. I am not naive about what someone can do to another human being and that there are monsters out there. But, until they are dead there is still hope for them. If I can't find it in myself to have compassion and mercy on someone, no matter what, then there is nothing that separates me from them, I am guilty of the same thing they are: having no regard for human life.
posted by Rebecca at 7:52 PM
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