mercy

I was reading this morning in Hosea and I came across this verse:

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."

And then I stopped reading. You know how you can read something a million times, but never really see it. Well, this time I saw it, and I became very intrigued with this thing called mercy. This thing that God wants us to do so very much.

I realized that I didn't really know what exactly mercy was. I kept thinking of other words like forgiveness and grace to try and define it, but I didn't think that was right, so I looked it up. The number 1 definition:

Compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power.

The most interesting part to me was the end of the definition - not only is mercy compassion, it is also showing compassion to those against you and those beneath you. 

I also found it interesting that when I googled for mercy images the image that most often came up was an image of Jesus. How funny that "Christians" are still using Him as an excuse to kill and condemn. He is the ultimate symbol of compassionate forbearance to those against you and those in your power.

So how about if we truly follow his example, and show some mercy? That is , I believe, what he really wants us to do.

Love, Jessi