Mercy triumphs over Judgment.

"Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

This sounds easy enough, but have you ever stopped to think about what this might mean and how it is walked out in our daily life. I struggle with this all the time. I can remember visiting a family one time , The mother had sold her daughter to a group of men for a bottle of vodka. Several years had passed, and the family was now back together. yet it took everything that I had to be civil to the mother. "How could I show mercy to some one who has done such a terrible thing".

I was sharing this with friends , and brought up the story of Slavic. ( a boy sold into slavery by his family ) I shared how by us trying to find Slavic, we are doing Justice, but really maybe what we should be focusing on is Mercy. I remember when I first posted about Slavic I made reference to the scripture that states , who here among you, having 100 sheep and one was lost would not leave the 99 and go to the one... then I pointed out that in the sight of God, Slavic is not lost.. God knows exactly where Slavic is, and is likely closer to him now more then ever.. but it is Slavics family that is lost to God.. So maybe we should not be focusing on the Justice here, but focus on bringing mercy to the family.

I know that If, or when I post on this blog that we have found Slavic and that we need only $250 to make him new documents and then we can bring him home, they we will have several out there that will help...this is Justice. But If I share that we have not found Slavic yet , but we are going to begin the restoration of his family who sold him into slavery, showing true mercy.. this will be a little harder to swallow, and will likely not foster the same response. But if Mercy truly does triumph over Justice... this is were we must start.
So I have known what we need to do next, but like I say, I am not always as holy as I should be and have been slow to act.

This morning I got an Email from our daughter Emma . She has just received a donation to help with rice for families in need that she knows.. She was very excited and thankful, but began her letter with "Dad can I go back and help Slavics family ?"

I think that the reason that Mercy is so powerful is that I believe that it is Mercy shown to us that unlocks our ability to recognize the injustices around us.
If we have never experienced mercy, the injustices of the world would would just seem normal.. this is why in many of the places that we work , the injustices are so horrific. I think back to the mens home and the injustices experienced there. It was not until we started to show mercy to the director and staff that their hearts began to soften to the point that they themselves recognized the injustice around them.

I am believing that as Emma begins to pour out mercy onto Slavics family, that they too will have a softening of the heart, and understand the injustice that they have been a part of .
Justice can save someone from a situation in the present, yet Mercy has the ability to save someone for an eternity.