Blessed Are the Merciful

Blessed Are the Merciful

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Matthew 5:7 (NKJV)
  ^"Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy."

Translated from the Greek, “merciful” means actively compassionate.  Just as God actively bestows mercy on us, we are actively to give mercy to others.  We are to demonstrate God’s consideration, caring and benevolence to the world. 

However, in order to be truly merciful, we must be able to discern the fine line that exists between compassion and negative enabling.  God is merciful, but He does not enable our sin, our doubt, our unbelief.  God, through the Holy Spirit who lives within each believer, enables us to be over comers.

Paul admonished the Galatians to be merciful and, yet, to encourage others to do their share. Galatians 6:1-5 (NKJV) ^“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.” 

If we do not allow and encourage others to grow and do the work of the Lord in caring for themselves and others, they will be unable to rejoice when examining their own work.  If we do not encourage others to “bear their own load,” they may come to believe that they are unworthy and/or unable.  In our mercy, we must encourage others to depend on the Lord and who they are in Jesus Christ and not on us.  It is not merciful to promote low self-esteem and dependence on man. 

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians expresses the same thought:  2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 (NKJV) “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.”

To give someone a fish is to be merciful for a moment.  To teach him to fish is to be merciful for his life time.  One of the greatest mercies we can extend to others is to teach them to steward their time and their resources.  Even people who must legitimately rely on the mercy of others will prosper more if they spend both their time and their money more wisely.

We are, likewise, merciful when we encourage others to use their abilities, no matter how limited, in service to themselves and to others.  When we encourage their stewardship and their abilities, we are doing the Lord’s work in delivering them from the bondage of low self-esteem.

In our country, the welfare system, meant to be compassionate, has become a political program that discourages the work ethic and promotes low self-esteem and dependence on the government. For numerous families, dependence on the welfare system has become a generational curse.  Many politicians foster the program to insure their own reelection.  

We pray that the Church will, in mercy, encourage God’s people to be merciful indeed.  May we be compassionate enablers for a positive change in the lives of others.