25/10/2026
A Culture of Mercy.
Mercy is neither a gift of the Spirit, a fruit of the Spirit, nor one of the seven Spirits of God... it is, however, the culmination of forgiveness, grace, and compassion.
*** Extending forgiveness to someone who has wronged you (they are at your mercy).
*** Moved by compassion for someone who is at the mercy of unfortunate circumstances.
*** Grace to someone who is eating the fruit of their choices (at the mercy of bad decsions/sin).
Mercy is a powerful weapon in the hands of the church; it is the ability to relieve someone from something that is detrimental to them, when it’s also within your power to judge, punish or harm them.
Out of the eight beatitudes mentioned in Matthew 5, mercy is the only beatitude that, when sown, reaps itself (Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy).
The woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).
Johh 8:7 ““All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”
John 8:10-11 “ “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
In the above passage, Jesus was the only one in a moral and lawful position to throw a stone - yet he offered mercy instead of judgment, and in doing so, mercy didn’t just save her life but set her on a trajectory of freedom from sin (while also disarming the self-righteous and a spirit of condemnation). Sidenote: condemnation speaks to the person, saying “you are bad”, but conviction speaks to the actions, saying “what you did was wrong”.
Jesus fulfilled the law and equally brought disruption to the system but was never in rebellion.
James 2:12-13
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment."
Lastly, right in the middle of the book of Lamentations (Lamentations 3:22-23), five chapters of lamenting the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., we read:
“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin each morning afresh.”
Let mercy reign in our hearts.
