By Bill Collier, Publisher
“Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” – Proverbs 13:24
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23
“… he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” – Tutus 3:5
“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” – Proverbs 28:13
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” – Galatians 6:1
“If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.” – Ezekiel 3:18-19
Publisher Bill Collier shared a thought about mercy which, we believe, is timely in today’s age. All around us we are beset with examples of progressive Judges allowing men and women to remain unaccountable for their crimes. We are also surrounded by people we know want our American way of life destroyed, along with us.
On one hand, “mercy” is empowering violence that is hurting innocent people, on the other hand, lack of mercy could make monsters of us all.
Bill gives a take on mercy that balances the need for forgiveness and grace with the need to hold even those we forgive accountable. We recognize that lack of accountability enables coercive actions that affect innocent people, not just the person you are seeking to give mercy to. – Editor Paul Gordon Collier
Mercy doesn’t calculate value; it recognizes that it inherently exists, that it always exists, and that it doesn’t matter what the other side or person sees as valuable. It only matters ethically that you hold the value.
Mercy is the reason we forgive others, because to not forgive is to cease to recognize their inherent value. It is the reason we provide medical care and humane treatment to our worse foes, because to not do so is to not recognize their inherent value as human beings, regardless of how they see us.
Mercy is not merely unmerited favor, although it often is that, but recognition of the inherent value of life, of human life, and of our shared humanity, even when the other side does not.
Mercy says that it matters less if the other person loves us, it only matters that we love them.
There is never a time when mercy must be set aside. When you are protecting yourself or others, or defending space that belongs to you and yours, then to engage in self-preservation is a mercy to yourself, for your life is also valued, and protecting it from harm is a mercy to yourself.
But when the fighting is over, when self-preservation has been achieved and the attacker is subdued, then they come under the care of our mercy. To do them harm after the fact is a crime against the Creation.
Mercy is not weakness.
In fact, to operate at the level of “mercy for all” is very difficult. It is not only inconvenient, costly, and dangerous at times, it presents other difficulties because to discern when to pick up the sword and when to heal is not a perfect art. When you get it wrong you can either jeopardize yourself or go over the line and jeopardize your own moral code.
Mercy can sometimes cause you to be vulnerable to being exploited, betrayed, and even physically harmed. Mercy isn’t for cowards. However, it is necessary to be wise when applying “mercy.” Where you certainly know the risk or intentions of another to harm you then mercy for yourself or those you are protecting means not showing mercy to the aggressor.
I have seen merciful people seemingly allow someone to take advantage of them. Asked why and the answer is something like, “it’s mercy providing them with another opportunity, another leg up, so they can learn.”
Often people who “use” others are themselves the last chain of a long chain of people who have
“learned” to put themselves first always or they will suffer. If you are surrounded by people that try to exploit you, and then conclude that if you can’t beat them, you can become a better exploiter than them, exploitation becomes all you know.
Sometimes someone showing grace and modeling mercy reaches the unmerciful, sometimes it doesn’t, but the merciful TRY because they recognize the inherent value even in these chronic “users.”
There are the merciful and the merciless. Most of us spend some time in both camps, even some of the more merciful can be merciless at times, at least under provocation. I can attest that I have in the past sometimes been quite merciless, and yet I cannot say even now that I am always merciful, though I am far more so now than, say, when I was 20.
I do not forgive or let an offense pass or overlook a fault because “but for the grace of God there I would be as well,” although it’s true. What drives me is mercy.
It’s the reason some oppose the death penalty, which I do not oppose because I believe a judicial punishment commensurate with the crime is a mercy to society and to the victims, guaranteeing that this person will not harm another.
The thing about mercy, as you can see, is that people won’t always agree where the line is between mercy for others, mercy for yourself and your people, and mercy for society.
For some, keeping a killer in prison for life protects society but still recognizes that killer’s inherent humanity, even if the killer doesn’t. For others, the death penalty is necessary because it shows mercy to society and recognizes that when the merciless take a life the only sure protection against further acts, and the only action that recognizes and defends the humanity of their victim, is capital punishment.
I believe that even if two people take different sides on this, IF mercy is what drives them, then God will show them grace even if they are wrong.
But mercy is still what I said at the start: it is the recognition of the inherent worth and humanity of every single person without question. It is not the absence of punishment, but outside of necessary punishment, it is the absence of malice and of harm.
Let us pray our leaders, and ourselves, can balance the mercy we should have for the violator with the mercy we should have for the violated.