December 19: Insight Post by Karenna Rowenhorst
Weekly Reading: Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 6:20-23
Friday Reflection
The Merciful Receive Mercy: Jesus emphasizes that those who are merciful to others will receive mercy from God. Extending grace and compassion to those around us reflects the heart of God and opens us to experience His mercy in return.
Friday Verse
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NLT)
Friday Questions
How can I practice more mercy and compassion toward others, even when it’s difficult? In what ways can I actively demonstrate God’s grace and compassion in my daily interactions, knowing that showing mercy opens me to receive His mercy in return?
Friday Insight Post
by Karenna Rowenhorst
The verses in our Bible Reading Plan this week remind me of everything we studied in our Upside Down Living series this fall. Jesus lays out a vision of His Kingdom and priorities, and the people struggle to understand it. Our human nature pushes us towards selfish living. We think our money is our own. Our relationships are our own. Our talents and careers are our own, and even our lives are our own. Our goals for the future all revolve around our personal dreams.
Jesus asks us to see the world a new way – not the broken way that we have learned, but a way that places love for God and love for others at the top of our hearts. God calls us to create lives that will have meaning, not lives that get us more stuff or require us to step on others to get what we want.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NLT)
You may see they word mercy in the Micah 6:8 verse and think it means weakness. Mercy is active and requires a choice to place another’s needs before your own. It requires strength because you are giving up your own desires, and it requires courage because you are making yourself vulnerable. Mercy is taking compassion and giving it an influx of power to act in situations where people are struggling or hurt. Mercy is compassion in motion. We need daily reminders to make a choice towards mercy and not towards our own selfish habits.
Justice is paired with mercy in this verse. Justice is part of God’s character. It is also the way that God expects us to live. Take a look at these verses in Amos, where God calls His people to choose a path of right living. It’s tough to read, but God cannot accept their offerings or praise because they are made with a heart that does not align with God’s heart. They set up idols of their own making; they are acting the part but not living in a way that honors God.
“Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:22-24 (NIV)
God is perfect in His application of mercy and justice. Not only did He send Jesus to save us, but He will one day make all things right. Justice and mercy go hand in hand. Restoration of our souls includes both a personal transformation, but also a returning of the world and everything in it to a right relationship with God.
Have you seen how strong the current of a river is? Can you imagine trying to stop it? I can picture the current of God’s justice flowing and it is powerful! Justice means holding others accountable but offering a path forward in restoration. God’s justice protects the vulnerable, the widows, the orphans and the disabled. God’s mercy restores dignity.
Let’s pray today for mercy and justice to be present in our hearts.
Karenna Rowenhorst, MA
Senior Director of Education
New Hope Church
Lorton, Virginia
www.newhope.org