We Don’t Earn Mercy

God provides mercy, it is not earned. I know it is challenging to understand all that God provides in His Word. As when we read the Beatitudes, Jesus even says to get mercy we have to give mercy.

“⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” — Matthew 5:7 (ESV)

Well, that may be said, but here is what I understand after reading and studying more of God’s Word and not just picking and choosing the passages that suit me. I cannot earn the mercy of God. Mercy is something that I am compelled to give thank to the salvation provided by God. There is not something that I must do.

“¹⁵For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” — Romans 9:15-16 (ESV)

I read the words of Paul and at first glance may think that he is contradicting Jesus. He is saying that God has already decided to provide mercy to those He does. Jesus is saying that those that provide mercy will receive mercy. Well, here is what I believe to be. Paul’s words go hand in hand with Jesus’. You see, God has and will decide who receives mercy, and it is those who provide mercy at the compelling of being a child of God. It is not something that is earned rather something that is part of who we have become.

Those in the world are fully in the world and do things in that world for the world. Where there may be a lot of good that comes from their doing, it is in the world and the impact may be short sighted and self-aggrandizement. When we are doing things for the sake of God, it is for His glory and not our own. The good is for God and He will then take the good and multiply it even more, as we may have only been there to get things started and then move on to the next opportunity to give to others.

I am here to spread the gospel of Jesus to the world one action at a time and through the mercy, love, and compassion of Him who has tasked me to do so. I am not looking for mercy, I am giving it. In return for my giving, I am given even more than I have realized to this point. I do not earn mercy as it has already been given. I simply have the chance to see that which is provided me by God as He has said He would.

What good are you doing in the work as pertains to providing mercy to others? Are you looking for something in return? What if you looked at mercy as not something earned, but something given, by you to others and to you by God?