The Beatitudes (Part 5)
This isn’t a negotiation with God
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Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Matthew 5:7 (NET)
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Like all the beatitudes, this one is a core tenant of Christ’s “Upside-down Kingdom.”
We’re forgiven so much by God, we ought to also forgive others.
You see it show up the model prayer (Matthew 6):
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
We also see it in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18). This wicked servant is forgiven so much by the king yet refuses to forgive a tiny debt of someone else.
So, a big takeaway here:
Beware being un-merciful for we may not receive mercy.
Something I try not to do is hold grudges.
It produces bitterness, and, as one of my college pastors used to say, “bitterness is stringing poison and hoping the other person gets sick.”
When you put it like that, it’s obviously foolish. But, at the moment, it feels like we’re justified in being bitter toward people who have wronged us. After all, they’re in the wrong and we’re in the right.
But I don’t want God to take that attitude toward me.
Something else I want to mention:
This merciful and receiving mercy thing is not a negotiation with God.
What I mean is, it’s not a “you scratch my back so I scratch your back” thing.
It’s a reality of the loving world that God has created and what He expects of His children who live in His forgiveness & love.
Those of us who have received forgiveness and mercy ought to, obviously, show the same.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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