Better Than They Deserve: The Power of Mercy

What would happen if you treated others a little kinder today? A little better than they deserve? 

In this episode, we talk about what it means to show mercy—even when you don’t feel it—and how it reflects the very heart of God.

✨ What you’ll hear:

• Where mercy comes from
  
  
• Mercy instead of judgement
  
  
• How you can live it out in your relationships - especially when they are difficult 

📖 “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” – Proverbs 31:26
 📖 “As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” – Colossians 3:12–13

💡 Today’s challenge: Go out and be merciful to someone unexpected

Transcript

Lisa Stasik: 0:00

Welcome back to the Christ Gives Hope podcast. Is there anyone in your circle in your daily interactions that you could treat with little extra kindness today? A little better than they deserve? Treat them with mercy. You see, when we choose to show unexpected kindness, we reflect the very heart of God to those around us and His heart. God's heart. It's not a heart that gives us what we deserve, right? Like retaliation, but rather what we desperately need. And that's Mercy. Mercy. We're gonna look at two sides of that today. First, where it all started, where this idea of mercy, treating others better than they deserve. We're going to look back at where that even comes from. And secondly, mercy changes more than just the person receiving it. It changes us, Every time we extend grace. Especially when it's not earned, our anger that bitterness those hard feelings, they'll start to subside and we'll act a little bit more like Jesus. Before we dive in, if you're new here, this Christ Gives Hope. Podcast is all about you. We aim to bring you Christ healing love during the hard, the crises of grief, the difficult life challenges that you may be facing. My name's Lisa Stasik. I'm your host. I'm also a Stephen Minister, and I'll share a little bit more about Stephen Ministry at the end. All right, back to our initial question. Are there people in your life, individuals that you could treat with a little extra kindness today, a little better than they deserve? I want you to picture him or her who could you show a little mercy to? Okay, mercy is being treated better than we deserve. A wise friend told me that Mercy is being treated better than we deserve. And understand Mercy a little deeper. Let's take a look at two Hebrew terms translated as mercy. And actually I love looking into the root Hebrew, what could be the Greek definitions of common terms that we use because often it gives you a deeper understanding, like a deeper meaning. And there's two Hebrew terms that are often translated As mercy, and one of them is racham. And its root meaning is deeply emotional. It's tender at its core. Mercy. In the Hebrew, it carries this idea of a deep protective, like nurturing love, like a mom could feel towards her child it's compassionate. It's this. Deep compassion. It's also, it's fierce, like a faithful kind of tenderness. It's not weak, but it's strong. So you see, when the Bible says God is merciful, it's saying that He loves us with this protective, this gut level passion, just like a mother has for her child. It's instinctive, it's fierce. It's deeply loyal, God's mercy. It's not this fleeting feeling. we looked at Reham and another translation is chesed, and that meaning it's relentless. It's this covenant love that keeps showing up. It keeps forgiving, it keeps embracing us, even when we fail Him again and again and again. That's the kind of mercy that we receive and that we're called to give. Okay, so you see, when scripture speaks of God's mercy, it uses these two words, this racham, this tender compassion like a mother's love. And also this chesed, this unbreakable covenant love, a mercy that refuses to let go, and that's the mercy that we receive and God's mercy. It's not soft, it's strong. this compassion, Faithful love that keeps its promises even when we don't deserve it, right? Even when we don't deserve it. What would happen in your relationships if you chose to treat someone like that today? You see our God, He's merciful to you every single day, and think about that individual that you were picturing a moment ago. Maybe that relationship, maybe it's a struggle. You can't control how they speak to you, how they treat you. Maybe they speak in haste. It's unkind, it's hurtful. Perhaps you don't feel like you're being treated fairly. If all of that is true for you, is there some way, as much as it depends on you, that you can still treat them with mercy, right? That unbreakable covenant love, that mercy that refuses to let go, that same mercy that you and I receive every day. Could you do that for them? With all of this talk on Mercy, where does it even come from to illustrate this? My sweet mom, she has encouraged me to read the Bible in the mornings. she reads a chapter every day and she sent a text to me and my sisters, saying how much that has impacted her. And that really encouraged me. Like, I can do that. So from her encouragement, I start my mornings in God's word. And oh my goodness, there's not a better way to begin your day. There really is not. Dive into His word. Get reading. that's the best thing you can do in the morning. But anyway, I read a chapter, I start in the Old Testament, then I read a chapter in Psalms, a chapter in Proverbs, and I always read Proverbs 31,'cause that's my favorite. And then I always end in a chapter in the New Testament. So I started in Genesis and then in Matthew in the New Testament, and I worked my way through. But I have to tell you almost every single time, wherever I happened to be in my reading for the morning verses and concepts in God's word, they just weave together. For example, my chapter in Proverbs, I was in referenced, but I just read the Old Testament and I didn't even like purposely try to line that up. So I encourage you though, it's a great way to start your morning, spend time in God's word. All right. I'm kind of on a tangent and that's not the point, but the point is this, the mercy that we're talking about extending to others. Did you know that in the Old Testament when Moses was given the two tablets of stone, that's in Exodus 34, those were the 10 commandments, and Moses, he was instructed to make the arc with the mercy seat above it. It's fascinating. Checkout Exodus chapters 20 through 40. It discusses all of it, but what really struck me is that the Lord tells Moses in 25 17, you shall make me a mercy seat of pure gold. And in verse 22, the Lord tells Moses, says"There, I'll meet with you. above the mercy seat." It's a mercy seat. I can't tell you how many times in my life that I had heard that or read it, and it never really impacted me. But your God, my God, the God of all creation. He chose to meet with Moses on what He himself called a mercy seat, not a judgment seat, a mercy seat, not judgment. Think about that for a second. We wanna be more Christlike, right? And to do that, we're not to sit here and judge others, but rather treat them with that same mercy that you and I are shown. One more comment on the mercy seat. What was underneath it? It was the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments that could not possibly be kept. They, we can't do it. We cannot keep them all on our own behalf. Keep all those laws. It's not possible. So you would think, well, then we would deserve judgment. Right? Well, instead of judgment that we rightly deserve above those laws that God knew that we would break, sits a mercy seat right above the laws, that God knew that the Israelites would break, set a mercy seat instead of judgment. There's mercy. Treated better than we deserve every single day, and that's where it started. This mercy that I encourage you to show someone else, it's rooted way back in the Old Testament and mercy is woven into the very character of God. You are treated by your Heavenly Father better than you deserve every single day, and maybe in your marriage or a relationship with your children. Or a parent, maybe your best friend, your coworkers, your colleagues. Think of those relationships around you that you can put that very mercy you're shown into action today for someone else, especially if there's a relationship in your life that's not going how you would want it to. Like we talked about in the beginning, maybe that relationship's a struggle, You can't control how they treat you, how they speak to you. It's unkind, it's hurtful perhaps, you don't feel like you're being treated fairly. You cannot control how they treat you, but you can control how you respond. You are responsible for how you respond and treat someone else. I encourage you to respond with extra kindness and mercy today, and how can you do that? There's a great little nugget of advice found in Proverbs 31. That I absolutely love. It's, context is marriage, a wife to a husband, But you can apply this to other people that you communicate with or interact with. It says she speaks with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. And that verse that has become like this, stop for me. This teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Speak kindly. So instead of lashing out in anger or in haste when you're annoyed or irritated, maybe instead that you maybe pause and speak kindly In those moments when you don't feel it, when you're upset, angry, hurt, you speak kindly. That is one way that you can be merciful towards another person. Another practical example that you can do today is this. We're told it's Colossians three, 12 to 13."Put on then as God's chosen one's, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you. You must also forgive." if you have a complaint against another person today. You must also forgive. It says a complaint. We're told a complaint that could be pretty minimal or pretty deep, but a complaint. The little things too, a complaint. When you have a complaint against another, we're called to forgive. That's another practical way that you can be merciful towards someone else. You forgive. If there's no one coming to mind that you could treat a little kinder today, just ask. You can ask, Lord, Will you show me who you want me to show mercy to today? Is there someone I need to forgive that I haven't? Are there people in my life that I'm not treating graciously or speaking kindly to that I'm not even aware of? Just ask and He'll put it on your heart. In all of our episodes, we aim to share the hope we have in Christ, and I wanna close by mentioning how Stephen Ministry can be a resource, a hand, a support for you. If Stephen Ministry is something you're not familiar with. We as Stephen Ministers, we're all about caring for you when you need it most. It is a free, confidential, safe space for you. to, talk through the areas of your life that you're struggling with, We want to be Jesus hands and feet for you as we walk alongside you. I serve alongside many men and women in our Stephen Ministry program at St. Lorenz, and they all have a heart for the Lord. They're full of compassion and they truly wish to support you and be that steady, calming, presence as you face life's many challenges. If you're local to St. Lorenz in Frankenmuth, Michigan, we have a team of Stephen Ministers ready to support you. But if you're listening from elsewhere around the country, I encourage you to check with the local church. Stephen Ministry is a national ministry with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, and chances are very good that there's a local Stephen Ministry program near you. Also, you don't need to be a member of St. Lorenz or a member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod to receive care. From a Stephenn Minister, you don't even need to have your faith all figured out to receive care from a Stephen Minister. it is not judgmental. There is no judgment here. I cannot say that enough, especially wrapping up this episode on being merciful towards someone else. This is a safe space. There is no judgment. Talking with a compassionate, trustworthy, Stephen Minister may be just what God has planned to help carry you through. If you're feeling overwhelmed and broken right now through the cross of Jesus, God can make you whole. And the heart of Stephen Ministry is rooted in that biblical principle that Christ cares for people through people. At St. Lorenz, we have a team of Stephen Ministers ready to support you to care for you. More information about our Stephen Ministry program can be found at ChristGivesHope.org. If you're interested in Stephen Ministry for yourself or for a loved one. More information can be found a ChristGivesHope.org. Please take a moment to just subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And a quick note, this is not medical advice if you need professional care or care from a physician that is beyond the scope of Stephen Ministry. And if you love this episode, please share it with someone else who you think would enjoy it too. Thank you so much for listening and God's blessings to you. And go out and be merciful to someone unexpected.