Lord Have Mercy: Part 2 in a series on MERCY

    Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Philip. 2:4-5
     Rev. Matthew Harrison, president of the LCMS, in his book entitled, Christ Have Mercy: How to put your faith in action, quotes the following from Luther regarding our own use of mercy toward others....

     Our Lord and Savior Jesus has left us a commandment which applies equally to all Christians, namely, that we are to render...the works of mercy[Luke6:36] to those who are afflicted and in a state of calamity, and that we are to visit the sick, try to free captives, and do similar things for our neighborr so that the evils of the present may be somewhat lessened.  Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave us the brightest example of this commandment when...He descended from the bosom of the Father into our misery and our prison, that is, into our flesh and our most wretched life, and took upon Himself the penalty for our sins so that we might be saved.

   By keeping ourselves open always to the needs of others, we become less selfish, less self-centered people, and less vulnerable to the rampant sin of entitlement.  Not only that, but we begin to have a greater compassion and love for other human beings and what they are going through.
   Quite often we immediately judge others who might be behaving in a less than desirable way, or even downright rudely toward others.  Instead of allowing for the possibility that they just might be going through something terribly difficult and trying to understand and help that person, we may be too quick to write them off as just being a jerk.
     When the Bible tells us that JEsus had COMPASSION on people, look at what happens next in each case.  He DOES something!  That's because compassion means doing something....it does NOT mean just feeling sorry for someone and moving along to something else because you don't want to be bothered with it.  Compassion necessarily means ACTION.  Jesus demonstrates that for us. 
     Perhaps it is time to put YOUR faith in action!
Thanks for reading, and God bless you with compassion and mercy for others!