Now, these are things that are bound to happen when we are told to stay at home or our daily lives are disrupted. We feel that things are out of our control, with they are, and we start to flail around a bit and we tend to take it out on each other. Just like when we were kids and our parents packed us up with our suitcases and duffel bags to go on a family vacation. We were confined with our siblings in the back of the car, or in the hotel room, or in the spare room at a relative's house. We fought. We argued. We were at each other's throats. We felt entitled to be right, to win our arguments. To prove that we were better, more mature, smarter than our siblings, all the while proving the opposite.
And how is this any different? We are confined in our houses and apartments with our families, we are being told what to do, we don't know when it will end or what is coming next. We are out of our element. Our lives are out of our control.
Just like our younger selves, we are agitated, we are functioning in defense mode.
We are fighting.
We are arguing.
We are at each others throats.
Does anyone else feel convicted by this? Maybe even a little bit ashamed? Called out? Because when I had the idea to write this, I felt that way. That's why you're reading it a week or so later, because I put it off, but it kept bouncing around in my head, so here I am.
Maybe you haven't been acting out against anyone you live with, or maybe you live alone. Maybe you've been rude to your spouse, talking down to your kids, avoiding your roommate, or maybe you're one of many hiding behind a screen, lashing out at others online. Have you entered into The Great Mask Debate? Have you torn the mask from someone's face in the name of Freedom, or accused someone of letting the government control them? Or maybe you've mercilessly shamed someone for not wearing one, calling them selfish, saying they don't care about others and would rather see them die than be told what to do. Or perhaps you've weighed in on other COVID-19 related policies, conspiracies, or predictions, calling out those you see as crazy or blind. Or maybe you have been high-and-mighty about any of the other numerous issues that we are tearing ourselves apart over throughout the world today. Whichever side you are on, I believe that you are wrong when you act in this manner.
I'm not here today to take sides on any issue that we may be dividing ourselves over, or even to really address those issues other than to point out their existence and the fact that we tend to build a fortress on one side or the other, open fire on those we see as our opponents, and are willing to fall on our swords before we extend a little kindness and mercy to those we may see as being wrong. No, I'm here today to talk about mercy.
Now, there is a difference between grace and mercy, and the two are often confused. If you are being graceful, then you are giving something undeserved, such as kindness, love, gifts, you name it. From a Christian perspective, we understand grace as God giving us life, love, salvation, and all the loving gifts that he gives to us on a daily basis, even though we are so undeserving of them. He sent Jesus to be a sacrifice, to die, to take on our sins, even though we in no way deserve it.
Mercy, on the other hand, is not giving something that is deserved, like a punishment of some sort. Our wrath, so to speak. God is merciful to us by not giving us the penalties of our sin, which is death, because of the gift of Jesus as a sacrifice for us to take our place, which He graciously gave to us.
See? They are different. But they go hand in hand.
Grace is easy enough. We tend to not have a whole lot of trouble giving undeserved gifts. It makes us feel good, in fact, to give something to someone who doesn't deserve it. Does a homeless person deserve anything from us? Do people we don't particularly like deserve our kindness? Do people who do wrong to us deserve our forgiveness? No, but we are nice people. We are good people. We are godly people, so we give it to them anyway.
But mercy... mercy is hard. We like to have a sense of justice. And it's easier to be nice, give freely, and forgive when we feel that justice has been accomplished. It's hard not to punish someone for something they did when we think they deserve it. It's hard not to act harshly when someone has done something, said something, been something that we see as Not Okay. In fact, many times we see it as Our Christian Duty to bring about what we perceive to be justice, forgetting that God has said that that is His job, not ours (Deut. 32:35, Rom. 12:19). In reality, it is our job not to give them what we think they deserve, instead loving them, and acting in mercy and grace.
"But they are being stupid, it is my job to set them straight."
"But they are being a jerk, someone needs to teach them a lesson."
"But they are wrong. It is my job to change their mind so we can agree."
All of these things have a root of nobility, but are usually acted upon out of a sense of selfishness, hatred, self-righteousness, or in the name of our view of justice. Very rarely is the other person's point of view considered, and even more rarely are their feelings taken into place. Is our own sense of entitlement to being "right" more important than the hurt that we may be putting others through?
I'm not telling you how to think, how to act, or even accusing you of anything. I am simply asking you to examine yourself and act in mercy. In your homes, at work, on the internet, everywhere really. This pandemic has taken much from us. It has taken away routine, financial security, events, places to go, things to do, and much more. Don't let it take away our relationships with each other, and don't let is take away our love. Have mercy in the pandemic. Love one another.
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus."
-- 1 John 4:7-17
how well written is this?????????? fantastic!
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