The Bible for Women

Weekly Devotional

Are We Merciful?

I have heard many sermons preached on God's forgiveness. Many times ministers will remind us that God can forgive anything we have ever done- no matter what. We are told the accounts of the adulterous woman, the woman at the well, the thief on the cross, and David's indiscretion with Bathsheba. Oh, if God can forgive those things, then He can surely forgive anything that we have done.

As I sit and listen to those lessons, I am so thankful that God can and is willing to forgive my sins. I am eternally grateful that He sent His only Son so that I can be forgiven of my sins and so that I can, if I choose, inherit eternal life with Him one day. But I also wonder if others feel the way I do when I hear those sermons. I KNOW God will forgive me of my sin because He is God. I have no doubt. Psalm 136 tells us that God's mercy endures forever. But how does a non-Christian become convinced of this? The Bible tells us that people will know we are Christians by our love for one another.

1 John 3:16-19 states, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him."

If non-Christians do not know God, then how do they find out about God? God will not appear to them. Many will not pick up a Bible and begin reading- so how do they know God? They come to know God by those who belong to Him. If we belong to Christ, then we belong to God. If non-Christians do not see forgiveness in us, then how can they believe that God will forgive them. How can one believe that she can receive forgiveness for a thing she believes is so horrible if the very people who claim to be of God will not forgive her for it? We will never win souls to Christ if we continue to have the attitude, "Thank you Lord that I am not like that woman over there. I am so glad that I have made better choices and that I am so much stronger than to commit such a sin as she has." By this, we admit that we do not sin. We will never win souls to Christ if we do not reflect who He is. Christ never sinned, yet He showed abundant mercy to sinners, always with a loving heart.

We must remember that if we teach people that it is not God's desire to punish them, then we must not punish them either. Let us be merciful as God is merciful so that our sins can be forgiven as well. We all are in need of the mercy of others just as we are in need of the mercy of God. 

Ephesians 2:4-5 states, "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...

May God bless your week. Margie