Carol McClain

Christian–You Are Righteous, But Are You Merciful?

Carol McClain

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matt. 5:7

Don Carson, a theologian and co-founder of Gospel Coalition, writes: “Mercy is a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of the one on which love is to be showered.”

If I only knew then what I know now.

I used to be able to point my fingers at others for not learning how to pull themselves out of the gutter. After all, I’d come from a rough and tumble upbringing where alcohol use (we were NOT drug addicts, thank you) was de rigueur. Poor and self-conscious and self-absorbed, I learned early how to game the system and get a “boot up.”

But then Jesus. Though my sins were scarlet–Jesus took the fuller’s brush to me, and my soul could not have become more white. Every sin I had (past tense) committed was washed away. As I changed, my life improved. I lived honestly. I followed Scripture. I gained a reputation for good. Ah, I arrived.

As I matured as a human, I looked at people who still struggled against the odds. Lived in generational alcoholism, poverty and/or violence. Hey, I said, if I could pull myself out of the mire–me a sinner, a woman of poor choices–then so could these people.

Fortunately, I serve a gracious God. One day, he asked me, “Carol, how did you change? How did you become a better woman?

This, I knew, was a rhetorical question. I did change. I did use my will to change–but the only way I succeeded was to give my life to Christ. He did the work that I now willed to do.

How about you? What do you think when you hear the words: undocumented immigrant? Sex worker? Relapsed (a hundred times) addict? Homeless? Black? Arab? Karen? Atheist? Trans?

Do you reach out an open hand only to slather it with hand santizer once done? Do you shake your head and think, why don’t you do something? You’re not happy.

I can’t imagine you’re a worse Pharisee than I was–and hopefully, my Pharisaical phase is, indeed, past tense.

God showed me mercy. That mercy blessed me. How can I withhold from others?

Micah 6: 8 says: He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Matt. 5:7: Delight in graciously helping others knowing God  will graciously (or, in my case, had graciously) help you.

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Sometimes, accidents or illness comes and changes a person. In my soon-to-be-released novel, Choices We Make, a tragedy transforms a marriage counselor’s husband into someone she no longer recognizes. A woman grounded in faith must wrestle with love, mercy, sacrifice, and the true meaning of commitment. Stay tuned for the release date.