Why Mercy Matters

Typically, my wife Sara does not have favourites. She does not have a favourite colour, name or place. She likes too many things for too many reasons to have one favourite.

Shockingly, though, she does have a favourite mug. It was made by a Saskatchewan potter. In fact, Sara met this woman at an art show and told her how much she liked her work and the woman gave her this mug for free! It was beautiful and Sara treasured it.

Last Friday night, Sara made some tea for me and, for some reason, she put it in her special mug. I was reading at the time, so I took a sip and put the mug back on the shelf. Then I took another sip and put the mug on the shelf. I took another sip and I did not quite get it back on the shelf. As soon as I let go, the mug tipped over. I tried to grab it, but it was too late. Sara’s favourite mug, one of the only possessions that she really cares about, crashed to the floor and broke in three huge pieces.

I waited. I braced myself. Yet, to my surprise, there was no speech and no anger. Nothing! All she said was, “You are more important than some mug!” She had every right to yell, scream and be upset, but she chose to be merciful.

Everyone likes justice when they are right, but we love mercy when we need it.

Ephesians 2:4 describes God as being “Rich in mercy”. Heavenly wisdom is, “full of mercy” (James 3:17). 1 Peter 1:3 tells us that God offers new life because of his great mercy.

To be clear, I am not encouraging you to be lazy, sloppy or careless about your spiritual life. All I am saying is that if we are ever going to be anything like God and represent him well, mercy must be a large part of our makeup.

Mercy is a powerful tool for changing the situations that we are in and making them better.

Mercy matters.

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