Matthew 5:7 (NIV) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
The kingdom of God is no place for those who are stern, harsh, judgmental, and unforgiving.
Every single person who enters the kingdom of God does so through the gate of God’s mercy. When they come to Him, spiritually bankrupt, broken by the understanding of their own sinfulness, humble, realizing that they deserve God’s condemnation rather than His blessing, and hungering to be transformed into genuinely righteous people, they receive God’s mercy, His forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus, and His transforming grace.
From that moment on, those people belong to God, and are expected to be representatives of Him and His kingdom. As such, they are expected to show others the same grace and mercy that He showed to them, whether they consider those others “deserving” of it or not.
The parable of the unforgiving slave (Matthew 18:23-35) is the best illustration of this. When the slave, who owes his master millions of dollars, throws himself at the master’s feet and begs for more time to pay, he receives far more than he asks: complete forgiveness of the debt. But when another slave, who owes the first slave a few hundred dollars, begs the first servant for more time to pay, the first slave shows no mercy. He has the second slave thrown into prison until the debt is paid. He who received unimaginable grace from the master shows none to his fellow who begs a much smaller mercy from him.
The master is justifiably angry at the first slave, and actually revokes the mercy that was originally given to him. Since he would not extend mercy to another, the mercy that he himself received is negated (verse 34). Then Jesus ends with the inverse of this beatitude: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35 NIV)
In God’s kingdom, the harsh and judgmental will receive no mercy. Instead, they will be judged by God using the same standard that they use to judge others (Matthew 7:1-2). But those who show the same abundant mercy to others that they themselves have received will continue to be show that same abundant mercy.
Father, thank You for Your abundant mercy. Help me to always remember who and what I was when I came to You, humbled by the depth and breadth of my black sins, and with no hope of every being able to do anything to repay You what I owed. You pronounced undeserved forgiveness into my heart, and transformed me completely, taking away the darkness and shame of my sins, and replacing them with light and joy in You. How could I not extend the same abundant forgiveness to someone else?! Even though it may be difficult in some cases, help me, Lord, to be as merciful to others as You have been to me, so that I can always live in Your kingdom. Amen.