Don’t close your heart. Show mercy.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.” James 3:13-18

Imagine with me that you decided one day to head to your local bakery. As you park your car, you see a lady holding her bag of the delicious bread she’s purchased, and with a smile, the store owner bids her farewell and a God bless you. But as soon as you get out of your car, the store owner sees you and locks the door, covers the windows, turns off the lights, and says she has no bread. You’re thinking, wait I just saw you give the previous lady some bread. Not only that, I saw the bread truck deliver a load of bread this morning. So I know you have more than enough.

I love bakeries, but God loves mercy. I love the smell of fresh bread, but God loves the smell of our obedience. Each day He gives us fresh new mercies, loading us up. However, when we receive His fresh mercy and then refuse to give it away as if we haven’t received anything from Him at all, this is sin. This is evil. God gives us new mercies every day, and that is the same mercy He expects us to give away. He doesn’t want us locking our door, turning off our lights, closing the windows, and refusing to give away His rich mercy that we did nothing to earn.

Receiving God’s mercy, love and forgiveness brings tears and makes you feel all good inside. Don’t you think God wants others to experience that same goodness? He does. It’s not that we can’t forgive and show mercy, it’s that we choose not to. And when we refuse to show mercy, it’s like storing away all of the mercy God has given us and locking our door. If we’ve received fresh mercy from God, which we have, we must give it away as God’s daughters.

Prayer: Father, forgive us for the way we’ve been behaving, holding on to mercy and not giving it away. We receive your load of mercy today and we choose to give it away to everyone, Father. We’re not going to wait until someone comes to our door requesting mercy, we’re going to go find them and give the same fresh mercy you gave us. We love you more than anything and we choose your way. We declare we are full of mercy and we give it away. In Jesus’ name!