JAM 2:12  So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13  For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14  What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16  and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
 
    I know of a woman who grew up in a home filled with harshness and anger. Now an adult, she still goes home and cares for her once-abusive parent. When I questioned this, she said she knew that she could hang onto the pain and return hurt for hurt. Some would think she has that right. After all, aren’t parents supposed to “bless” their children, to bring good things into their lives?
    “But maybe I was placed in this home so I myself could be the blessing,” she said. “It’s not always about what we get, but what we give.”
    How could she treat her parent so well after the way she was treated? “I was just as hateful toward God,” she said. “But He showed me mercy in forgiving my sins. How can I refuse to show mercy in return? My Lord was so generous in mercy to me, and as a result I am a friend of God. I chose to extend mercy to my parent, and now I have gained a loving friend.”
    Indeed, mercy triumphs over judgment. And as Shakespeare wrote: “mercy is twice blest: It blesses him that gives and him that takes.”
 
Praise God for the mercy He has for us.
 
IHS
 
Pastor Stan S

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