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God's
Mercies Are New Every Morning,
But Are Ours?
John was deeply in debt to Sam who had
loaned him over a million dollars. Sam called John and told him to repay
the loan immediately or face legal action. Sam begged for more time.
Sam relented and told John he had three
more months. As he hung up the phone, John heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Just then Norm walked in the door. Norm was 30 days late paying a $900
bill.
"Norm, I need your payment now or I’m
turning you over for collection," said John.
"I can pay you $100 today and the rest
over the next few months."
"No. That’s not good enough. I can’t
afford to carry dead weight on my books. I’m calling my collection firm
right now. Good day."
Norm stood up, stunned and speechless as
he heard John on the phone instructing his collection service to go after
Norm’s account.
Later that day, Norm bumped into Sam. "Why the long face, Norm?"
"I got behind on some payments to John
and he’s turning me over for collection. He practically kicked me out of
his office."
"Really? This happened today?" Sam asked.
"Yes, this morning."
"Look, Norm, I’m sure it’ll all work
out," Sam said.
Later that day Sam was on the phone to
his attorney instructing him to go after everything John owned, and to
show no mercy, just as John had done to Norm. Within a few weeks, John was
out of business, bankrupt, and had lost all of his assets.
This is a slightly different version of
the story Jesus told in Matthew 18 but illustrates an interesting reality.
Lamentations 3:22-23 states, "Because of
the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions [mercies]
never fail. They are new every morning; great is [His] faithfulness."
We depend on the mercies of God for our
temporal and eternal life. His mercies to us are new every morning because
we need them fresh every day. We easily fill our days with random sins
that need to be forgiven -- that need a fresh covering of mercy. We
virtually take these mercies for granted, yet God faithfully extends them
to us.
But is this the same quality of mercy we
extend to each other?
Why are we so quick to be wronged by
others rather than just letting them be who they are without taking
offense? Why are we so quick to deny grace to others and demand it for
ourselves? Why don’t we emulate the Father and when a sin is forgiven,
remove it from our awareness as far as the east is from the west? If the
Lord’s mercies are new every morning, why aren’t ours?
Proverbs 19:11 says, "A man’s wisdom
gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense."
Overlooking an offense is to extend mercy. Instead, as one pastor put it,
"Even if we haven’t made mistakes, people can make us feel like we made a
mistake." How often do we not only withhold mercy and extend blame,
accusation, innuendo, guilt, and more onto others?
Instead of bringing new mercy to bear
every morning, too often we tend to stoke up the fires under old grudges
or complaints. This is totally counter to what Jesus commanded us when he
said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).
Paul put it like this in Ephesians 4:2-3
stating, "Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making
allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Always keep
yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with
peace."
And then in Colossians 3:13, "Bear with
each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one
another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." In the New Living Translation
it states, "You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive
the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must
forgive others." Jesus capped it when He said, “if you do not forgive men
their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15).
How much clearer could the message be?
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