The Beatitudes - 5

Blessed are the merciful,

For they shall obtain mercy. – Matthew 5:7


The merciful – Mercy can be seen as an act of grace, empathy, or forgiveness, especially toward an offender or someone subject to one's power. When reflecting on the meaning of mercy, the second part is what caught my eye. It is very easy to show kindness or mercy to someone we love. But what about showing kindness to an offender? Will we be able to show grace or empathy toward them?

Now, having clarified to whom this quality should be shown, it's time to focus on what mercy really means. Mercy is defined as grace, empathy, or forgiveness.

Grace: Unearned love.

Earned love is so easy to give. If someone is kind to us, it is very easy to show kindness in return. But unearned love? Showing kindness to a person who did nothing to receive our love? Maybe we show unearned love to our kids. But what about others? What we should really think about is the love we are receiving from God—unearned love.

Empathy: Putting yourself in someone else's shoes.

Most of the time, we do not think about what the other person is going through. We just care about how they behave toward us. But showing empathy is what God expects of us.

Forgiveness: Letting go.

This is the hardest part of all—letting go of grudges or resentment. We hold grudges because we were hurt in some way. But are we willing to forgive and overlook what they have done to us? What we should really consider is the prayer we say daily: "Forgive our sins as we forgive others." As—as in "I forgive others, God forgives me." The negation would be, "I do not forgive, God does not forgive me." Sounds scary, right? How many times do we ask for forgiveness to God? But according to our prayer, God's forgiveness is directly proportional to our forgiveness. That is the essence of this verse too.

SHOW MERCY, GET MERCY.

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