Have you ever struggled to be kind or forgiving when someone clearly didn’t deserve it? Or perhaps when you were angry, hurt, irritated or just annoyed? Obvious answer for me is “yes.”
But what would happen if we treated others a little kinder today? A little better than they deserve?
On the Christ Gives Hope podcast, we talked about something that hits deep: mercy. But not as a ‘nice, abstract’ idea, but rather a powerful, actionable response you can make that reflects the vey heart of God.
🎥 Watch the Episode: Video coming soon!
Prefer to listen? Catch full episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2272943/episodes/17212547
Or continue reading below 🙂
Better Than They Deserve
Is there anyone in your circle, in your daily interactions that you could treat with a little extra kindness today? A little better than they deserve?
When we choose to show unexpected kindness, we reflect the very heart of God to those around us — And God’s heart? He does NOT give us what we deserve, like retaliation, but rather, what we desperately need: and that’s mercy.
Mercy. We’re going to look at two sides of of mercy:
We’ll first look at where it all started. Where the idea of mercy, treating others better than they deserve, where does this even come from?
And secondly, mercy changes more than just the person receiving it — it changes us. Every time we extend grace, especially when it’s not earned – our anger and bitterness will start to subside. A peace will settle in, and we’ll act a little more like Jesus.
Is there someone you can show a little mercy to today?
Mercy is being treated better than we deserve. A wise friend told me that and it has stuck with me!
Root Meaning of Mercy: A Look at Two Hebrew Terms
To understand mercy a little deeper, let’s take a look at two Hebrew terms translated as “mercy.” I love looking into the root Hebrew or Greek definitions of common terms we use!! It gives a deeper meaning, often a deeper understanding.
One Hebrew word often translated as ‘mercy’ is “racham” and its root meaning is deeply emotional. It’s tender.
At its core, “mercy” in Hebrew carries the idea of:
- Deep, protective, nurturing love (like a mother feels for her child)
- It’s compassion, deeply compassionate
- A fierce, faithful kind of tenderness
So when the Bible says God is “merciful,” – It’s saying He loves us with a protective, gut-level passion of a mother to her vulnerable child — it’s instinctive, fierce, and deeply loyal.
God’s mercy isn’t a fleeting feeling! We looked at ‘racham’ and in Hebrew, but another word “mercy” can be translated from is “chesed.” Chesed is a relentless, covenant love that keeps showing up, keeps forgiving, keeps embracing us, even when we fail Him again and again.
That’s the kind of mercy we’re called to give.
When Scripture speaks of God’s mercy, it uses two words: racham — tender compassion, like a mother’s fierce love for her child — and chesed — unbreakable covenant love, a mercy that refuses to let go. This is the mercy we have received. This is the mercy we are called to give.
God’s mercy isn’t soft — it’s strong. It’s racham: gut-level compassion that moves toward brokenness. And it’s chesed: a stubborn, faithful love that keeps its promises even when we don’t deserve it.
Even when we do not deserve it. What would happen in your relationships if you chose to treat someone like that today?
Our God – He is merciful to you every. single. day.
Are there indiciduals that you could treat kinder today? Think of him or her. Maybe the relationship is a struggle. You can’t control how they speak to you, how they treat you. Maybe they speak in haste, it’s unkind, it’s hurtful, perhaps you don’t feel like you are being treated fairly.
If all of that is true for you, is there someway, as much as it depends on you, that you can treat them with mercy, that chesed — unbreakable covenant love, that mercy that refuses to let go – that same mercy you and I receive every single day. Can you do that for them?
Where Does Mercy Come From
It’s important to look at where this idea of mercy even comes from. It’s certainly not a new concept, something you’ve never heard before. But where did it begin?
To illustrate this, my sweet mom, she has encouraged me to read my Bible in the mornings. She reads a chapter every day!
From her encouragement, I start my mornings in God’s Word. And ohmygoodness there is not a better way to begin the day! I’ll read a chapter from the Old Testament, then a Chapter from Psalms, then a chapter in Proverbs, and I always read Proverbs 31 – that is one of my favorites – and I end with a chapter in the New Testament.
I started in Genesis in the Old Testament, and in Matthew in the New Testament, and I work my way through!
I have to tell you – almost every single time, wherever I happen to be in my reading for the morning, verses and concepts in God’s Word weave together!! For example, my chapter in Proverbs I was in, referenced what I had just read in the Old Testament! And I didn’t even purposely try to line it up that way!
But, I encourage you, it’s a great way to start your morning, spend some time in God’s Word!
Anyway, I’m kind of on a tangent and that is not the point. The point is this: this mercy that we’re talking about extending to others: Did you know that in the Old Testament when Moses was given the two tablets of stone in Exodus 34 – those were the Ten Commandments – and Moses was instructed to make the ark with a mercy seat above it. It’s fascinating! Check out Exodus chapters 20-40 – it discusses all of it.
But what really struck me was the fact that the Lord tells Moses in 25:17 “You shall make me a mercy seat of pure gold…” and in vs 22 the Lord tells Moses “There I will meet with you…above the mercy seat…”
It’s a mercy seat! I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve heard about it or read it, but it never really impacted me.
Your God, My God, the God of all Creation – chose to meet with Moses on what He Himself called: a mercy seat, not a judgment seat.
A mercy seat! Not one of judgement!
Think about that for a second. We want to be more Christ-like right? And to do that we are not to sit and judge others, but treat them with that same mercy you and I are shown.
One more comment on that mercy seat! What was underneath it?
It was the 10 commandments!
The 10 commandments that could not possibly be kept. We can’t do it! For further reading if you are intersted, the book The Nake Gospel by Andrew Farley really helped illistrate this. Check it out here if you’re interested: https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Gospel-Truth-Never-Church/dp/0310293065.
But we cannot possibly keep the commandaments on our own or keep all of the laws. It’s not possible. So you would think, well, then you would deserve judgment, right?
But instead of judgment that we rightly deserve, above those laws that God knew we woud break, sits a mercy seat.
Instead of judgment, there’s mercy.
Treated better than we deserve. Every single day. That’s where it started.
This mercy that I encourage you to show someone else, is rooted way back in the Old Testament. Mercy is woven into the very fabric of God’s character.
You are treated by your Heavenly Father better than you deserve. Every. Single. Day.
So maybe in your marriage, or a relationship with your children, or a parent, with your best friend, your coworkers and your colleagues – think of those relationships around you that you can put that very mercy you are shown into action for someone else.
Especially if there is a relationship in your life that is not going how you want it to like we talked about in the beginning. Maybe that relationship is a struggle. You can’t control how they speak to you, how they treat you. Maybe they speak in haste, it’s unkind, it’s hurtful, perhaps you don’t feel like you are being treated fairly.
You cannot control how they treat you, but you can control how you respond.
You are responsible for how you respond and treat someone else.
I encourage you to respond with extra kindness and mercy today.
How can you do that?
Practical Ways to Live Out Being Mercriful to Someone Else
There’s a great little nugget of advice found in Proverbs 31 that I absolutely love. It’s Proverbs 31:26. The context is marriage, a wife to the husband. But you can apply this to other people you communicate and interact with. It says she opens her with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. That verse has become like a ‘stop” for me me.
The teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Speak kindly.
Instead of lashing out in anger, or in haste when you are annoyed or irritated. Maybe instead, you pause and speak kindly in those moments when you don’t feel it, when you are upset, angry, or hurt.
You speak kindly. That is one way you can be merciful towards that other person.
Another practical example you can do today to be merciful is this: We’re told in Colossians 3: 12-13 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
If you have a complaint against another person today.
A complaint.
We’re told a complaint. A complaint? That could be pretty minimal or pretty deep… But we’re told a complaint here. When you have a complaint against another, we’re called to forgive.
That is another practical way you can be merciful towards someone else: Forgive.
If there is no one coming to mind that you could treat a little kinder today, a little merciful, just ask. You can ask “Lord, will show me who you want me to show mercy to today? Is there someone I need to forgive that I haven’t? Are there people in my life that I am not treating graciously or speaking kindly to, that I’m not even aware of?
Just ask. He’ll put it on your heart.
If this has resonated with you, I would to hear. And if there is someone else who you think would enjoy it too, please share it with them.
💡 Today’s challenge: Go out and be merciful to someone unexpected 💙
