A excellent quote from the lips of Art Katz:


It cost God much to pour out and reveal His mercy, namely, the death of His Son in the most excruciating agony. What will it cost us to show the same? Is mercy still mercy if it comes without cost? Religious politeness we can perform. If mercy does not come at cost to the person giving it, then how will those who receive it recognize it as mercy?

I think often we attempt to show mercy that is really nothing more than sentimental pity. "Oh you poor thing!!!" But showing mercy is something much more than showing sentimental pitty towards some poor soul. Rather, as Katz elaborates above, mercy is something sacrificial that personally costs the person extending that mercy.

Pulling somebody out of a pit is never an easy thing. Such only comes through the physical strain somebody suffers in order to lift another out of their circumstance. Such mercy always puts an inconveience upon the one willing to help. They have to take time out of their busy day to stop, reach into the pit, and pull somebody out. Perhaps you might have to go out of your way to help somebody, and treat them much more kindly than their attitude or disposition says you should.

Take for example a homeless beggar. You might not have any cash on you to help somebody asking for a handout. But, chances are there is an ATM within a couple miles of where you are at. Why not go a few minutes up the road and come back with a few dollars? Perhaps he looks nasty, maybe he even smells a little drunk. Maybe you've seen him at the same location before begging? But so what! Show mercy to such a "slop" or "bum" just the same. He may not deserve the money you are going to give him, and may waste it just the same, but how is that any different than what Christ has done for you? Did you deserve His grace? Have you not taken advantage of that grace time and time again and gone back to your own habitual sins? Does Christ not show us mercy even though we might abuse and take advantage of that mercy just the same? Then who are you to take such a worldly attitude towards such a man?

Mercy does indeed cost something. It opens one to possibly being vicitimized by the one to whom you extend mercy. Much as a lifeguard that jumps into the waters to save a man from drowning puts his own life at risk. You might get taken to the cleaners, you might be taken advantage of, you might even put your own life on the line. But a mercy that does not come freely and with no strings attached is not mercy. For Christ shed His blood for us whether we would accept Him or not. Likewise, we must be willing to shed our blood if that becomes the cost of showing mercy.

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Jimmy H