Posts Tagged: mercy

“In the Business of Mercy”

On June 8, 2022 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

A friend of mine wrote the following to me the other day:

“The more I stay in ‘most of that is none of my business’ mindset, the better I feel spiritually. Even if I do disagree with what someone is doing, or if I would do it differently myself, I can mind my own business by loving them anyway and not trying to control or manipulate. I can trust God with all of it. I actually just think about Jesus and his ministry of being with the most outcast people of society, the “sinners”, and how he showed them unconditional love. That’s how I want to be. Just loving people where they’re at, even if they’re screwing up, even if they’re wrong. I’m wrong all the time. I screw up all the time. And when I do, I really need mercy and love. I think we all do.”

We are in the business of mercy. Part of mercy is often minding our own business. Most people realize when they have messed up. Some even recognize that they are messed up. And yet, as I mentioned to my wife just this morning, I tend to be an editor of other people’s lives. Why do I do that?

I suspect that the main reason is that I don’t want to come terms with the things that I need to change in my own life. Focusing on what is wrong with “those people” avoids the messy and difficult task of trying to be changed myself. It doesn’t matter too much who “those people” are. It could be Democrats or Republicans, atheists or Christians, men or women, the young or the old . . . , just as long as it isn’t me.

Perhaps I should base my own personal mercy business on the premise that I have received much mercy from God and from other people. The truth is that I have indeed received a lot of mercy.

Perhaps too, I could practice mercy toward myself. Increasingly, I am convinced that all the Christian virtues need to be practiced not only by ourselves, but also on ourselves.

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On October 6, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

DTEB, “Fair—and Merciful—Weights and Measures”

As I was out walking the dog and listening to my You Version Bible on my smart phone this morning, I was struck by the following verse:

Prov. 11:1       “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD,

                        but a just weight is his delight.” (English Standard Version)

I was even more struck with a rather personal extended application of the verse to my own sometimes judgmental attitude.   I did not like the application, but I no doubt needed it.

False weights and measures are, in the literal sense, an economic issue. Here is what Kidner says concerning the matter: “The Law (Lev. 19:35f.), the Prophets (Mic. 6:1f.) and the Wisdom Writings (see also 20:10, 23) agree in condemning dishonesty primarily for God’s sake. For the same reason we are encouraged to give not only in full but to overflowing (Luke 6:35, 38). See also 16:11 . . . .”  Christine Roy Yoder comments that, of eleven things that are listed as abominations of Yahweh in the book of Proverbs, three of them involve unjust weights and measures.[1]  (See also Amos 8:5; and Micah 6:10-11.)

However, the figurative meaning of this saying was what I especially needed and didn’t like.  I felt that God was asking me about my tendency to want mercy for me, but judgment for others.  Isn’t that having different weights and measures? Other people’s wrongdoing is heavier and more than mine, surely!  And, of course, my motivations are always pure, whereas the motivations of other people are often suspect.

I was hoping that I had misheard God’s Spirit, but was pretty well certain that I had not.  When I looked up Luke 6:35-38 (to which Kidner referred, as already noted), all doubt was removed.

“Luke 6:36  “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:37   “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Notice how Jesus intensifies this business of a fair “measure.” We are not simply to be just.  Rather, we are to be merciful and generous.  In fact, this merciful measure doesn’t stop with not being judgmental.  No!  Jesus calls his disciples to forgive!

And since I need a lot of mercy and forgiveness, I need to extend a lot of mercy and forgiveness to others. Measure for measure! The same standards of mercy for others that I need for myself.

Man, do I ever have a lot of work to do!

[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 130.

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“Of Cover Ups and Mercy”

On May 1, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer


“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,

but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13, English Standard Version)

“You’re only as sick as your secrets.”  (Twelve-step saying)

I want to live a H.O.T. life: Honest, Open, and Transparent.  Sad to say, I don’t always.  I think I’ve opened up to those who need to know about my big struggles.  However, not so much on little things.  At least, I want to think they are little things.  And, in any case, little hidden transgressions have the same tendency as termites and cancer: They eat away at us from their places of concealment.

And let’s face it.  This world is not really geared for honesty, openness, and transparency.  Neither is any of us.  We play at hide and seek when we’re young.  As we get older, it’s not a game anymore.  We work at hiding—and hope that no one finds us.

In Proverbs 28:13, the Hebrew words translated “confesses” and “forsakes” are participles.  Participles are verbal nouns. In other words, they are a cross between nouns and verbs.  In Hebrew, when participles have a verbal thrust, they often suggest repetitive action that flows from the very character of a person.  They often suggest a continual or repetitive action.

If this is true of the participles in Proverbs 28:13, the verse could be unpacked in the following manner:

“Whoever makes a habit of concealing his transgressions will not prosper,

but he who makes a habit of confessing and forsaking them will obtain mercy.”

Now, we are really good at confessing the wrong-doings of other people.  However, Proverbs 17:9 says that this is precisely what we ought not to do.  In fact, the same words are used for concealing transgression as in 28:13!

The word for “forsaking” is a strong word.  It is used in Genesis 2:24 for a man forsaking his father and mother to marry his wife.  It is also used of divorcing a wife.  Sometimes, we think that it is enough to confess our sins.  It isn’t.  We need to forsake them.

And, as much as I would like to believe it—and as much as you would like to hear it—this is not a one shot deal.  When people come to faith in Christ, that is only the beginning.  That’s when the real battle begins.

We tend to think that mercy is about God’s kind treatment of us when we’ve messed up.  That’s true.  But there is another, harder truth: Mercy is also given to those who confess and forsake their transgressions.

I’m not saying that living a HOT life is easy.  However, honesty, openness, and transparency set us up to receive mercy.  And that is hot!

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