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Chapter 9: Mercy

What is grace? A simple definition is 'giving someone something that he doesn't deserve.' What is mercy? A simple definition is 'not giving someone something that he does deserve.'

We tend to like it when people get what they deserve don't we? We like it when the bad guy gets caught and goes to prison forever. We would like it if Osama bin Laden was found dead. We like revenge. It sells, it sells movies, books, revenge is sweet! That is how we are, but its not how we should be. We should be concerned with their salvation. We should be concerned about giving them the same chance to receive mercy that we were given. "Mercy doesn't sell a lot of books or movie tickets, and it may not make you popular at the Pentagon or as a UFC competitor, but it reflects the heart of God and it's an essential ingredient to any meaningful effort to reach lost people for Jesus."

Jesus told a parable about mercy. We know it as the parable of the Good Samaritan. The story began with a question from one of the teachers of the law. The question was this: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Its an odd question really. "I have to caution him about thinking that there is anything we can actually do to inherit eternal life. The cool thing about an inheritance is that you don't have to do anything to receive it-it's a gift from a father to a child. Like many of us, this guy has it all wrong. Our salvation is not about what we do or have done, but about what God has done for us."

As the parable unfolds, it turns out that the hero of the parable is the Samaritan. Of course the one person that the teacher of the law would hate the most ends up being the protagonist! Jesus also holds him up as an example of what a neighbor is! This was devastating, because Jesus had just told him that to inherit eternal life he had to love his neighbors. Jesus had just blown the social hierarchy right out of the water. "Like the Samaritan, Jesus was merciful to people regardless of who they were, what they'd done, or whether they liked Him," and He expects nothing less of us. As we eat with sinners, we need to leave revenge at home, and replace it with mercy. That's what everyone deserves, and we want them to get what they deserve right?

Enjoy the Journey