The Main Reason Mercy is Important: Take the step of Forgiveness Today 

Pastor Art Snow • April 25, 2022

The Main Reason Mercy is Important: Take the step of Forgiveness Today 

What is the real reason we exist on the earth? I am sure many would answer this question differently, but in the early Church Fathers would the answer was almost always the same.

For man to be like God, as the Church Father Athanasius said,

“ God became man in order that man might become god.”

No, not part of the Godhead but to be as much like God as a human being can be, taking on His likeness and image. Paul tells us in the book of Romans that we are predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). 

Jesus tells us to be “perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect” Matthew 5:48. There is a theological term for this, it is Theosis, which means “our participation in Divine Life”, where we become by grace what Christ is by nature.

Many have said, no that’s not possible and they use it as an excuse to just be who they are and not what they are created to be, they settle for an earthly vessel instead of a glorified one. 

Peter makes it clear when he tells us:

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 2 Peter 1:4

Yes, we are to share in His divine nature and escape the corruption of the world around us. So what am I saying, I am saying we are called to be like God in all aspects of our being. Therefore the main reason MERCY IS IMPORTANT, is because God is full of MERCY and therefore so should we be like God and full of MERCY.

God is full of MERCY and therefore so should we

Paul tells us God is rich in MERCY (Ephesians 2:4), The Psalmist tells us, God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in MERCY and truth. (Psalm 86:15,). So the first reason mercy is important is because if our goal is to by like God, then He is MERCY.

Which by the way is defined as… 

 “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” 

The Bible tells us God is merciful to the merciful (2 Samuel 22:26). Can you imagine standing before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10) having lived a life void of mercy and asking Him to be merciful towards us?  We are to be like Him, showing mercy and forgiving just as he forgives and shows mercy. 

It has been said that withholding forgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Unforgiveness will not only stunt ones spiritual growth but can also cause great physical and emotional harm. Doctors have attested to the fact that holding unforgivness can cause illness both physically and mentally. 

Bob Mumford one of my early Bible teachers tells the story of going to the hospital to visit a woman who was dying of cancer, and on the way up in the elevator the Lord said to Bob, tell the woman if she forgives a woman in the church, that she will walk out of the hospital completely healed today. Bob was very excited to bring the good news to the woman, but was shocked at her response. She looked Bob right in the eye and said, I would rather die than forgive that woman, and so she died. Not only did she die, she died with unforgivness in her heart.

Mercy and the Prayers of Jesus

 We are only aware of one prayer that Jesus ever taught His disciples to pray and we call that The Lord’s Prayer, and in part it says;

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

If our goal in life is to be as much like our Lord as a human can be, then we must show mercy and forgive those who have wronged us. 

Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the unforgiving forgiven servant in Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

Wow, need we say more ? Jack Hayford in his book entitled “The Key to everything” has this comment about this parable;

“ Forgotten grace breeds unforgiving living.” 

Recently I ran across a quote that says;

“If we love Jesus we must love everything that He loves.”

That means every human being living now or who has ever lived or who will every live. Wow, you can only do that if you become “partakers of the divine nature. 

I have no idea what the Judgment Seat of Christ will be like when believers are judged and rewarded for their deeds on earth. But I can imagine we are simply judged by how much we did or did not resemble Jesus during our earthly sojourn. 

Mercy is important, forgive and be like Jesus !

Pastor Art Snow | April 25, 2022

Edited and Adapted for Web Use by: Eric Muñoz Jr.