Mercy Me

Matthew 18

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them," Jesus was speaking.
Matt. 18:20

LET IT GLOW

This verse is reasurring to me. Jesus is here with you and me as we
study His Word. In verse 19, He said that if we agree on something and
ask for it, the Father will do it.

Several months ago as I read the prayer of Jabez, I, too, asked the
Lord to enlarge my territory. He paved the way for this blog. Will you
pray with me that it will  touch more people and feed them on God's
Word?

LET IT GROW

This chapter is difficult to read and digest. Like the cow who lies down
and chews her cud, I have been pondering and chewing on Jesus'
Words.

The chapter begins with the disciples asking Jesus who is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. He used a little child to answer them. A humble
child immediately obeyed when Jesus called him. I want to respond in
the same manner.

Jesus had a lot to say about relationships and offenses. The word
offense means sin, offend, to displease, hurt.

Did a particular incidence pop into your mind like mine?

Matthew Henry gives us an outline of  the kinds of offenses and how
Jesus taught us to handle them:

         1. General Offense-verse 7

         2.  Particular Offense:
              (1) by us to ourselves-verses 8-9
              (2) by us to others-verses 10-14
              (3) by others to us
                    -scandalous sins which are to be reproved-verses 15-20
                    -personal wrongs which are to be forgiven-verses 21-35

Verse 33 says,"Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy
fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?" The lord of the servant
said that.

In their book, "Experiencing God Day-By-Day," the Blackabys touch
on mercy. "Mercy is a gift. It is undeserved. If not for His mercy, He
(God) would punish us each time we sin. But rather than letting us hear
the full punishment for our sin, God demonstrated His mercy when He
paid the penalty for our sin Himself.
Jesus commanded His disciples to extend the same mercy to others
that they had received from God.
Could any offense committed against us be as undeserved as the abuse
hurled against the sinless Son of God?
Nehemiah 9:17b says, ...but Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them
not. (He was talking about earlier Israelites.)
If you find it difficult to forgive others, you may need to meditate on the
mercy of God."

As I said earlier, these verses are hard. They are not even easy to read,
must less apply.

LET IT GO

Mercy me!
Ask for mercy and give mercy.
(Mercy is compassionate leniency toward an enemy or wrongdoer.)
Forgive others.
Ask to be forgiven.
Be humble.

Hang in there with me, ya'll. I know Jesus was straight forward and
told it like it is (truth). It's not easy to hear this when people
have deeply hurt me. Forgiveness isn't a one time thing. Verse 22
indicates it is unlimited. We are never more like Jesus than when we
forgive, in my opinion.

May our Lord  spread His love over us.