02-16-01

There is a vast difference between mercy and pity. Pity only sympathizes over misery and suffering while mercy sympathizes with but also seeks to relieve that misery and suffering. Brother H. Leo Boles wrote of this passage, "The merciful are those who pity, sympathize with, and help to relieve, all misery and suffering; this is the natural outward expression of the inner hungering for righteousness. Mercy is near akin to forgiveness and love; it relieves spiritual want and darkness, as well as temporal."

The self-righteous have no mercy on those who error on the path of righteousness. Consider the self-righteous Pharisee’s attitude toward the publican as recorded in Luke 18:11. "Then the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector." Too often, some Christians display an unmerciful attitude toward an erring brother. One wonders if such Christians are secretly happy that a brother has erred because it makes them look that much more righteous.

When one hungers and thirst for righteousness and realizes how easy it is to fall from that righteous path, one is more apt to be merciful for they also seek mercy.

Blessed are the merciful...