The Price of Mercy
When I was a child, my grandma could tell joke after joke, barely pausing for a breath. There are many jokes that begin like this: Two boys walk into a restaurant, one does this, says this, while the other does and says this. In case we may have forgotten, the parables in the Bible are not jokes. When we read a passage from God’s Word, we are entering the teaching of the Lord.
One such example can be found in the Gospel of Luke.
“And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.”
(The Gospel According to Luke 18: 9 NASB)
Notice their first issue: they trusted in themselves.
They viewed others with contempt (as in, they looked down their noses at others).
Then Jesus began his lesson.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
(The Gospel According to Luke 18: 10-14 NASB)
The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week;
I pay tithes of all that I get,’
But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner!’
I tell you,
this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We need to ‘posture’ our hearts, just like this tax collector because if we are full of ourselves, then God’s Word tells us that we are already full & do not see the need for His mercy.
All that God asks of His creation is that we come & seek His mercy.
So, what is the Price of His Mercy?
Having a
H
U
M
B
L
E
HEART.