The Alpha of Mercy

UV 3092/10000 The Alpha of Mercy
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
Daniel 9 v 9

The Lord God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and quick to forgive. From this character trait of God emerges the leadership precept that we need to be slow to punish and quick to forgive. Only God can be merciful for He is righteous or perfect while all of us have rebelled against His precepts and statutes. But once we are recipients of mercy through the grace of God in Christ, we too are obliged to be merciful to others for their lesser offences against us.
When Jesus was asked how many times we should forgive our brothers or sisters, He said, “Seventy times seven”, implying there is no limit to the number of times we should forgive. The reason is practical for we are also going to be hurt, harmed, deceived, insulted, humiliated by others innumberable times. To be able to do so we need to appropriate the grace of Jesus. The greatest instance of forgiveness and love in recorded history is when Jesus said on the cross as He was dying in agony, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” It does not however mean that we should only forgive those who unknowingly or unintentionally hurt or harm us in any way. We need to forgive those who intentionally or knowingly hurt us too.
Scripture refers to mercy of God as the plural “tender mercies”. It means that the Lord shows mercy to us in numerous ways. He is gracious not to remind us of our wanton acts of rebellion. Though our sins are as scarlet, He turns it white as snow. He wipes our spiritual and moral slates as clean as if we were blemishless or sinless. Likewise, we too are not to hold a record of wrong against others in our lives. Often, this is difficult or humanly impossible but the Lord gives grace as we humble ourselves to acknowledge that we are bigger transgressors and offenders. When we are merciful or compassionate, we are actually imitating Christ.