The Tender Mercy of Our God
Monday, July 18
The Tender Mercy of Our God
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Colossians 3:12-13
In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus invites us into the mercy circle: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” If the two most important commandments are to love God and love each other, then it is essential that we learn to build healthy relationships with one another. In today’s verses taken from Colossian 3 Paul gives the prescription for building relationships, it says ‘put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.’
Perhaps after reading this you are thinking, “Is it possible to have a good relationship with everyone” The answer to that is yes. If you’ll consistently practice these qualities, you’ll have healthy relationships. However, in order to do this you must “put to death your members which are on earth…” (Colossians 3:5) – the flesh and, put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another…” (Colossians 3:12-13) – the spirit.
When we remove self, and put on the tender mercies of God we can see people the way God view’s them; with compassion and in the end build strong relationships with each other. Remember healing comes when we realize that God first loved us and with that love we ought to love one another.