There are many factors in a person’s life that causes a person to choose to sin. Now let’s look at it this way. Are there different levels of sin? Absolutely not! Abba does not considers one sin to be above another and neither should we! We know the punishment, all sin leads to death. Every sin we do, should grieve us so much that we wouldn’t want to do it ever again. He does say, He hates some sin more than others but sin is sin to Him! There are no different levels of sin as some religions teach you. Yeshua had to die for all. In Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things Adonai hates, seven which he detests: a haughty look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet swift in running to do evil, a false witness who lies with every breath, and him who sows strife among brothers.” Why does he hate these the most? Because it comes from one word, Pride. Self love, no love in the nefesh(heart) for others and it is from their father, the Destroyer!
So what does this have to do with mercy? Well for one, let’s look at what mercy is. In the 1828 Webster dictionary MERCY is defined as:
“1. That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy that which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. Mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being.
The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty.” Mercy is the opposite of what Abba hates, Pride.
I can also think of one word that is close to mercy, forgiveness. So then would unforgiveness be the equal opposite of mercy? When you don’t forgive, you have unforgiveness in your heart. Yeshua says in Matthew 6:12,14-15 “Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us. For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours.” Forgiveness ties into everything in your life including sin. We need to be forgiven of our sins. If you want sin out of your life, you have to forgive. Because this is what it actually boils down to, love and not just any love but agape love. What Yeshua commands us to in John 13:34-35 “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. Everyone will know that you are my talmidim(disciples) by the fact that you have love for each other.” That is what changes you. Mercy is the action of love towards people that comes from your nefesh(heart). So the lying, backbiting, strife...etc won’t be in there. That’s why Peter said “Love covers a multitude of sin” The opposite of that would be unforgiveness. You also just can’t forget the hurt, thinking you forgave them, because it will always resurface. You will still have that angst when you think about them. The feeling should be the sadness of the situation and to pray for them. That would be true forgiveness, true agape love. Having no mercy, unforgiveness would eat you from the insides but spiritually speaking, it corrupts your nefesh and destroys you from having a true relationship with Abba, hearing His Spirit & doing His will. That’s what we all need to do, grow, mature and be merciful.
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