Mercy In Me

“ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”
Matthew 9:13

When Jesus says, “Go and find out what this means…,” I would think that we would have run right out and figured that out. We would put that at the top of our priority list. But I haven’t heard many instructions at all on what He might have meant when He quoted this verse from Hosea 6. So maybe we should look into it.

What does it mean when it says, “I desire mercy”? Well, it obviously doesn’t mean He desires for us to show Him mercy. That would be totally unnecessary since He’s perfect. It can’t mean that He desires to show us mercy because He already has. So, it must mean that He desires for us to show others mercy. And He desires that more than sacrifices.
So what are “sacrifices”? Well, by definition, they are “acts of offering to a deity something precious.” They are the things we give up to the Lord. In the Bible, they were a part of worship. They were an important part of our relationship with God. Today they might be our confessions or our songs.

Does this mean that God desires us to actively love each other more than He wants us to sing our songs? I found the answer was “yes”, and that was bad news for me. You see, I know how to sing songs. Loving other people is a little more difficult. And I know that I get my new CDs, put them in the car’s CD changer and drive past the homeless. I call it worshipping, but God sees me ignoring the needs of His children. I give Him an hour in the morning but can’t stop to listen to someone who’s hurting.

So this devotional is short and simple. “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth,” 1 John 3:18. Songs are great, but God is honored more when we love those around us. Now rather than reading any more, just go do it. And rather than writing any more, I’m going to just go do it.