Becoming men of mercy

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” - Psalm 103:8

For most of human history, revenge has been the norm.

Someone insults you? One-up them with a better comeback.

Someone hurts you? Make them wish they’d never messed with you.

Though this gets expressed in different ways—bar fights and duels, honor killings and retributive legal systems—humans love to see people “get what they had coming.”

But Jesus offers us a radically different way of being:

• Forgiving, even when someone offends us over and over (Matthew 18:21-22)
• Being generous, even when someone tries to take advantage of us (Matthew 5:41)
• Loving our enemies, even when they antagonize us (Matthew 5:43-44)

As we practice these counter-cultural ways of living, we become men of mercy—men who not only release others from punishment, but who release ourselves from bitterness, resentment, and hatred.

Where have you been discipled by culture to seek revenge? Can you trust that one day, God will make everything right in the world, freeing you to offer grace to others? To become a man of mercy?