“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15)
Bitterness is a terrible weed that has the ability to grow and thrive anywhere. If it can find a place to root, it will go deep and eventually take over and damage the work of God’s grace in the community of believers. A lack of mercy and forgiveness in the garden of God’s people leads to an erosion of relationships between brothers and sisters and the unity of the church suffers. The weed of bitterness, if allowed to continue, will go deep and begin to destroy the one who holds onto it. This lack of mercy slowly steals away the joy of the believer and keeps them in a dark place filled with discontent. It also affects others around that person and, like all weeds, it can spread quickly through the garden.
As imperfect humans, we are always making mistakes and hurting those around us. We say things we don’t mean or we say things that we do mean or we are just plain “mean” to each other. We are frequently hurt by others who don’t live up to our expectations and we are constantly disappointing others with our own failures. The bottom line is that sometimes we find it hard to get along. What are we to do? The answer is mercy. God calls us to forgive and extend mercy to one another just as He has extended it to us. The cross was God making the first move and modeling for us the key ingredient to reconciliation.
You see, God knows us. He knows our struggles and our weaknesses. He knows that we are constantly messing up and hurting each other. Relationships are hard. They take work in order to be maintained. This is true with each other and with God. When it comes to our relationships with each other, James says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:16). We should not only seek forgiveness, but we should also be quick to extend it. The Christian life is one that is lived out in community, and mercy is the defining characteristic of it.
To not be merciful is to invite the destructive disease of bitterness into the precious body of Christ…the church. We might think that our personal vendettas and grudges only affect us, but we are sadly mistaken. Our personal bitterness has ripple effects that poison the community as a whole.
Today, we are called to weed the gardens of our life. Are there places in your life where you are holding back mercy? Start by coming to the cross and experiencing the compassionate mercy of the Father and let Him who loves you help you through it.