Day 25 - Say Now to Mercy

I once had a conversation with a guy who was a religion major in college and claimed to be an agnostic. Not really knowing what that meant, I asked him to explain to me what it means to be agnostic. To make a long story short, he summarized agnosticism as acknowledging that there may be a higher power in the universe, but there was no way to prove or disprove the idea. I asked him about the idea of faith, because to me, it seems like that's the key piece that an agnostic is missing. His response was that he wasn't concerned because if the God of Christianity was a loving God, like we all believe, then as long as he was a good person, surely a loving God would let him go to Heaven. At the time, I was pretty young in my spiritual journey and wasn't really prepared to answer that claim the way I would have yesterday. And after reading Chapter 25 of Tom Holladay's, "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" I'd have even more to say.

Chapter 25 is the 2x4 moment of this book. What do I mean by that? As I read this chapter, the words jumped off the pages and hit me like a 2x4 across the head.

I love this quote from Tom -

"Being biblically nonjudgemental does not mean we pretend we don't see another person's sin...The question is this: "What will we do about it?"

First we need to look at ourselves and make sure we don't have the same sin in our lives, and if we do, we need to take care of that. Then, and only then, can we show mercy and help the person deal with their sin, in a non-judgmental, loving way.

What really hit home with me is that "MERCY IS NOT OPTIONAL" When I first read that, I thought yeah, yeah, I know that, but it took a minute to really sink in. We've all heard the Lord's Prayer many, many times, and probably can recite it from memory. But do you know what Jesus said to his disciples immediately after teaching the prayer? Tom quotes Jesus' words from Matthew 6:14-15 (NLT version)

"If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Whoa! Look at the second half of that quote again - But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

This is not an idea that Jesus mentioned once in passing and then never brought up again. Remember the story of the forgiven debtor who refused to forgive another who owed him money? It sure makes me want to rethink any grudges I may be holding.

Even when it is difficult to show merciful forgiveness, Paul offers some practical advice.

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." - Colossians 3:12-14

Day 26 - understanding God's Mercy

Day 22 - The Danger of Judgment

In the first three weeks of the 40 Days Journey, Tom Holladay shared the first three of the six relationship principles that he has gleaned from his study of Jesus’ teachings from the New Testament, and for the next week, we will look at the fourth principle.

1. Place the highest value on relationships
2. Love as Jesus loves you
3. Communicate from the heart
4. As you judge, you will be judged

What does it mean to judge? It might be easier to first talk about what judging isn’t. Tom tells us that the command not to judge does not mean that we should not discern between right and wrong. It also doesn’t mean that we can agree to ignore what others are doing in hopes that they will ignore our shortcomings.

Tom describes being judgmental as condemning or excusing another’s thoughts or actions. We typically only think of being judgmental when we are condemning, but excusing bad behavior of someone we like is equally as wrong.

In Matthew 7, Jesus provides a picture for us to remember when it comes to judgment.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matther 7:3-5

From this passage, there are three points that Tom makes from Jesus’ teaching:

1. Don’t be a hypocrite – don’t say one thing and do another
2. Have integrity – hold yourself accountable first (focus on your own plank)
3. Show mercy – Once you have made yourself right, offer to help your brother (help remove the speck of dust)

I think we all remember the saying, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” If Jesus, who was of the highest integrity, can show that kind of mercy to a woman, who was clearly guilty, and instead focused on the hypocrisy of those who accused her, then I think we should all be more careful of danger of being judgmental – from John 8:7-11.

Day 23 – Say No to Hypocrisy