BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL
FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY
by Tom Faggart
As a respected friend says ... Don't get angry. Get Even.
Ours is a world of getting even.
Even yesterday morning I walked in upon a conversation in a rural Convenience Store between the Counter lady and a friend. One was saying ..." I told her to pack her suitcase. And before he came home to sit down and get real angry. Tell him off, and come home to mommy." I reckon the Devil made me do it but I couldn't help joining in. "I sure hope that fellow is guilty because he's in for a difficult time." "He's guilty," she said.
Lewis Grizzard ... the infamous Newspaper Columnists wrote an article several years ago with some of the best examples of the American way of getting even I've ever read.
Wife became angry at her husband. When he left for work she backed his antique 1965 Mustang Convertible into the driveway. She called the local concrete dealer, had him deliver a load of concrete and empty it in her husbands pride and joy.
Most of us spend a great deal of our time establishing and maintaining relationships with other human beings. These relationships help establish our identity as persons, and provide for us the most meaningful experiences of life.
Being the human beings we are it is often difficult to maintain our relationships at the level of peace and harmony we like.
1. Sometimes we feel a friend takes advantage of us ...
2. Misleads us into assuming something is true, but is not correct
3. Does not follow through on promises, and obligations
4. Mis-interpretets what we have promised.
When such experiences occur most of us have to deal with a degree of anger. If we are not careful we will allow our base human instincts to take over and we will do more harm to our relationship than good.
The lesson of the morning ... BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY.
It is important to note that as ANGER is an emotion which comes from the center of our being. MERCY IS BORN IN THAT SAME PART OF OUR BEING. Mercy EMERGES AS AN emotion of COMPASSION. That emotion also comes from the center of our being. Compassion becomes mercy when it is expressed.
Jesus defined mercy in one of the immortal stories he told. There was a man traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho. While on his way he was accosted by a group of robbers. They left him there half dead. Finally the Samaritan came by showed him mercy, tended his wounds, and took him to an inn paid for his recuperation.
The Samaritan was offered as the example of Christian compassion. THE SAMARITAN COULD HAVE SAID. YOU IDIOT, WHY DID YOU TRAVEL SUCH A LONELY DANGEROUS ROAD BY YOURSELF. YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED.
When we see someone down we don't go up and have a go at his misery. But on the contrary we give that person aid. We become to that person a neighbor.
PEOPLE WHO ARE GIVEN TO COMPASSION ARE MATURE AND SECURE INDIVIDUALS. Insecure people will never know its joy.
Dr. Clovis Chappel used to tell a story about William Gladstone ... Chancellor of Exchequer for the house of Commons in England. His responsibility was that of putting together the budget proposal for that esteemed body. He trusted the groundwork to a trusted aid who had been with him for years. However, on this particular project his statistician had made a group of gross errors in his calculations. His political adversaries used this opportunity to pick him a part on the floor of the House.
People around him were already feeling sorry for his associate.
The news of what had happened had been spread abroad. Most people thought Gladstone would fire his trusted aid on the spot for what had happened.
However, when Gladstone met him he began his conversation like this ...
"I KNOW YOU ARE DISTURBED OVER WHAT HAPPENED. FOR MANY YEARS YOU HAVE SERVED ME WITHOUT A MISTAKE. I WANT YOU TO KNOW I APPRECIATE THE GOOD SERVICE YOU HAVE GIVEN. WITH THAT THE EVENT WAS CLOSED."
II. There is a promise to this Beatitude. THOSE WHO GIVE MERCY WILL RECEIVE MERCY FROM GOD.
It is in the action of God that the full meaning of mercy comes to light. God got in the skin of a human being; thus he learned first hand what this life is like.
In the Lord's Prayer ... Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
For some strange reason it seems that only those who give mercy can and will receive it for themselves. The unmerciful hardline person is the one who will HOLD IMPOSSIBLE LEVELS OF DEMANDS for themselves as well as others. If one does not have mercy for another, one will not receive mercy for oneself.
Since there is no perfect person in this world all of us stand in need of the mercy of God and others. The person who does not know this is a most difficult person with which to live. The happy people in this world are those who can give mercy, and accept it for themselves.
William Shakespeare ... The Merchant of Venus ...
THE QUALITY OF MERCY IS NOT STRAINED,
IT DROPPETH AS THE GENTLE RAIN FROM HEAVEN
UPON THE PLACE BENEATH:
IT IS TWICE BLEST:
IT BLESSETH HIM THAT GIVES AND HIM THAT TAKES:
'TIS MIGHTIEST IN THE MIGHTIEST: IT BECOMES
TO THE THRONED MONARCH BETTER THAN HIS CROWN.
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