Mercy
- Tina Punneo
- Apr 3, 2019
- 2 min read
My teenage daughter was in a bad mood when I came home from work yesterday. I know, surprise, right?! A teenager being moody?! Go figure.
I was quickly getting irritated by her attitude and told her so and how disrespectful she was being. After some time she eventually went off to her room and it was a nice reprieve from one another.
I went about my business doing a little house work and preparing dinner when I walked by her room and saw her lying on her bed with her eyes closed and it reminded me of the little girl that she once was. She’s every bit as tall as me now and her feet are bigger than mine, but for a brief moment I saw the 5 year old version of that girl.
Seeing her lie there, it made me wonder if she may have had a long, tiring day and needed a few minutes of rest. Most importantly, though, she reminded me of God’s mercy. The kind of mercy that forgives me and pardons my bad attitude and my sins. Jesus has every right to cast the stone, because he is without sin (John 8:7), but he chooses not to. He chose instead to die for me to forgive me of those sins.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing my daughter of her behavior, but I'm just taking this moment to focus on mercy, especially God's great mercy. I walked over and kissed the top of her head and told her that I loved her and her attitude completely turned around to joy. Psalm 94:19 says, God's comforts bring us joy. We are creatures that need to be loved, nurtured and forgiven by God and each other. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36
Mercy is defined as, compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. There are times that our actions warrant punishment, and God rightly disciplines when the need arises and we as parents need to do the same. But God is also rich in mercy, (Ephesians 2:4). His mercies never come to an end and are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He is loving, forgiving and merciful to those who are in Christ. I can awake each morning with a fresh start and try again to what is right.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
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