Friday, June 1, 2007

Love Mercy

In the last few days leading up to the final interview, there has been a number of events that have caused me to think about “mercy.” For instance, the other day I read a passage of the Bible that talked about mercy. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus is teaching the importance of mercy by saying, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” The lesson is not only about giving mercy, as an action; but also being merciful, as the state of being. It is one of various characteristics of God.

Breakthroughs occur not on account of our good deeds or we have appeased God in some way, rather they occur due to His very nature, He is merciful. Out of His deep compassion for us, the Lord reveals Himself to us as the sustainer of our lives. From the depths of His love for us flows affection and compassion, which translates into mercy.

I am so undeserving of all that God given me, all that He is currently giving me, and everything that is to come. I am referring to the blessing of His presence in my life. Rather than receiving His judgment and condemnation for all the sins I have committed He has demonstrated mercy. I am so grateful for that mercy. I am so grateful that His very nature is mercy. It is this wonderful nature that is being cultivated in us by molding us into the likeness of Christ.

Today, again, I experienced the mercy of God. I experienced His favor by receiving a favorable interview with the senior chaplain of the U.S. Army. The senior chaplain did acknowledge at the end of the interview that he was going to recommend me to the commissioning board, which will be meeting mid June. I must say that I felt the presence of God during the full course of the interview. I was able to learn a lot from Chaplain Pace. He had so much wisdom and insight to give.

Jesus teaches us, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” (Mt. 9:13). This lesson is just a reiteration of an Old Testament principle of loving mercy. It should be our desire to show and extend mercy, especially to a world that can be unmerciful.

In my heart, as I have been experiencing the mercy of the Lord, I know that I now need to extend mercy and to be merciful. Therefore, as a recipient of the mercy of God, I must now love mercy and extend it to those around me.

This journey to chaplaincy has been teaching me how great is the mercy of God and how much I need to be more and more like Christ by extending mercy to those around me.

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