Blessed are the merciful...

We started the second half of our beatitude study with Matthew 5:7 'Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy'.  It was noted that Matthew tells us 3 times that Jesus insisted on us being merciful, he thought it that important.  Words like 'forgiving' and 'not judging' and 'patient' came up when we tried to define merciful and what it would look like.  We talked about when it seems hardest to show mercy  - for example if we were wronged and the other party didn't show remorse, or if we had worked very hard and been dismissed, or if we had felt intentionally targeted.  Yet it must be remembered, "What it comes down to is this:  God's greatest desire for us is to copy the mercy he has shown us" (The Kingdom Experiment, p. 73).

We also talked about ways to be open to acts of mercy God may be calling us to, whether it's recalling a time we had been shown mercy, or stopping and taking time out of our busy schedules to listen.  Or perhaps one way is to focus on a challenge for a week?

Challenge Options:

1.Let the moocher live.  We all know someone who owes us.  Forgive their debt, big or small, and forget about it.  Really - don't tell them.

2.No whining:  a variation of the Golden Rule.  If you have pet peeves about others, they have them about you too.  Because you know this, make room for others' quirks by refusing to whine.  You can up the challenge by dropping change in a jar for every whine-time.

3.Hot food is overrated anyway. We've all had a waiter or waitress forget the drink or serve cold food.  Give a good tip this week even if it's undeserved because you know mercy is a good thing.

4.What stop sign?  Wouldn't it be great if someone else paid for our mistakes?  Collect money to pay a traffic fine (or simply a toll booth fee behind you)...Christ paid a price for us that we didn't deserve.

5.Maybe a box.  Maybe a mansion...doesn't matter.  Don't judge about how the homeless became homeless, just show mercy and feed the hungry.   Advocates4homeless.org is a starting place.

6.Ugh, I would get stuck behind a student driver.  Lack of patience then leads to lack of compassion...do some spiritual training in patience - drive your commute without passing anyone.  Don't tailgate either.

7.We'll call him "the frenemy" (yeah, that's not a real word.)  We all have a friend who tries our patience or has betrayed our trust.  Be the friend you wish they could be, and don't hold a grudge if that friend doesn't seem to change.

8.Give up, show mercy.  Give up a daily or weekly treat and donate the money to the Pastor's Discretionary Fund, which is used for those in need, without judgement.

So what challenge did your family choose?  How is it going?  Please post and let us know!