{"id":19015,"date":"2014-04-11T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T04:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19015"},"modified":"2014-04-11T00:09:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T04:09:01","slug":"meaning-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/11\/meaning-mercy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning of Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\nMatthew 5:7 NIV<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

mer\u2022ci\u2022ful<\/em><\/h3>\n

: treating people with kindness and forgiveness: not cruel or harsh
\n: having or showing mercy
\n: giving relief from suffering<\/p>\n

I like definitions. \u00a0I like to know the exact meaning of words because I think that a lot of words have been lost in translation. \u00a0And, despite the emotional power of words, I like to know the exact meaning<\/em> in addition to the feelin<\/em>g they bring. Merciful<\/strong><\/span><\/em> is one of these words. \u00a0We know the general concept, but I think we often forget what this word really means.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Kindness<\/li>\n
  • Forgiveness<\/li>\n
  • Not cruel<\/li>\n
  • Not harsh<\/li>\n
  • Giving relief<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Mercy<\/em> takes another step past the feeling it brings and the words used to define it. \u00a0 Mercy is something we can have and something we can show\u2014merciful<\/strong> should be our way of life. \u00a0The thing I love about mercy is that throughout the day we are constantly presented with opportunities to offer mercy to others: while driving and we get cut off; to our snarky co-worker; to the person in a hurry who bumps into us on their way out; to our spouse; to our children. \u00a0Mercy isn\u2019t reserved for the pure of heart, in fact it may be most effective on those we feel don\u2019t<\/span> deserve it.<\/p>\n

    There is another category of people who deserve our mercy\u2014perhaps the hardest group to offer it to\u2014ourselves. \u00a0When I\u2019m working with patients dealing with guilt issues, I always remind them that in most cases it is hardest to forgive ourselves…hardest to show ourselves mercy.<\/p>\n

    This week I want to incorporate these words into my daily prayers; I want to be intentional in living and showing them to myself and others. \u00a0Not because I know what it feels like, or because I know what it means, but because Christ is merciful to me.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He showers mercy on me daily, and because of this I know that I can show it myself and I can show it to others.<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s pray<\/strong><\/span>: \u00a0Dear Heavenly Father, mercy is a common word, yet most of us don\u2019t know what it truly means. Lord, please play these words over and over in our heads this week\u2014”kindness…forgiveness…not cruel…not harsh…giving relief<\/em>.” \u00a0Remind us of the times we were shown mercy and, because You have done so, we can and should do the same. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name I pray, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[127,1287,425,5784,1713,4531,680,6046,1075],"class_list":["post-19015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-57","tag-merciful","tag-mercy","tag-showing-mercy","tag-tonya-ellison","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4WH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19015"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19018,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19015\/revisions\/19018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}