"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
Matthew 5:7

At first glance, this verse may appear to say that people receive mercy from God because they have been merciful to others. Is that so? Let’s hope not! If receiving God’s mercy is dependent upon us showing mercy, none will receive God’s mercy in the measure we need to be saved!

This is similar to the challenge later in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:14-15 that appears to say we will be forgiven by God based on how we forgive others. Again, who among us would want God’s forgiveness of our sins to be exactly like our forgiveness of theirs?

In both cases, we receive forgiveness and mercy from God by His grace alone. That means we have done nothing to earn or merit forgiveness or mercy. Then, having received God’s gracious forgiveness and mercy, we are to forgive and be merciful as a result. Our responsive forgiveness and mercy doesn’t earn God’s forgiveness and mercy. Neither is it payback. That we have been forgiving and merciful does not secure God’s forgiveness and mercy, but it does validate that we have received and are grateful for God’s forgiveness and mercy.

All that said, let us forgive as we have been forgiven. And let us be merciful as we have been shown mercy. What does that mercy toward others look like? Next time.