______________Characteristics Of The Gift Of Mercy
Luke 10:25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, testing Him and saying, Teacher, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 26 And He said to him, What has been written in the Law? How do you read it? 27 And answering, he said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength," and with all your mind, and "your neighbor as yourself." (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18) 28 And He said to him, You have answered rightly; do this, and you shall live. 29 But desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 30 And taking it up, Jesus said, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell in with plunderers, who both stripping him and laying on blows, went away, leaving him being half dead. 31 But by a coincidence, a certain priest was going on that road; and seeing him, he passed on the opposite side. 32 And in the same way, a Levite, also being at the place, coming and seeing him, he passed on the opposite side. 33 But a certain traveling Samaritan came upon him, and seeing him, he was filled with pity. 34 And coming near, he bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And putting him on his own animal, he brought him to an inn and cared for him. 35 And going forth on the morrow, taking out two denarii, he gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, Care for him, and whatever more you spend, on my return I will repay to you. 36 Who, then, of these three seems to you to have become a neighbor to the one having fallen among the plunderers? 37 And he said, The one doing the deed of mercy with him. Then Jesus said to him, Go, and you do likewise.
This story is so deep and has so many lessons, but we're going to look at the lessons which point to the gift of mercy. Some of the characteristics of this gift are implied here, others are spelled out. We'll see if we can find them all.
1. Has tremendous capacity to show love.
The Samaritan didn't care if this man was Jew, Gentile or Samaritan. His actions showed that he cared he was a human being in dire need. God says that the love of man will grow cold in these last days. The Gift of Mercy is greatly needed.
There was a study done in Chicago in which a person dressed up like a homeless man (stinky clothes and all), lay down on the side walk next to a building and moaned softly and at time loudly. The "test subjects" (those people who were asked to participate in an experiment but were not told what the experiment was only that they needed to prepare a speech and give it to a class at a certain time. On purpose, some of the subjects were delayed while others were given plenty of time to get to the class early. Every one of the subjects had to pass this man moaning on the sidewalk. Out of the 37 subjects, only 5 stopped to give aid. One of them was late and the other 4 were on time. I am certain those 5 people had a huge dose of the Gift of Mercy.
2. Always looks for good in people.
The Samaritan did not wait to find out if the man was of good character or not. He just helped. Often times a Mercy person will bend over backwards to give the benefit of doubt to anyone they come in contact with. The grumpy person is "just having a bad day"; the rude person is "just in a hurry". This person will be courtious to a fault until they perceive someone else is being stomped on, then all the fangs and claws come out in defense of that person.
3. Senses the Spiritual and emotional atmosphere in a group or individual.
The person with the Gift of Mercy predominant will understand this trait without explanation. The Mercy person can sense emotions quite accurately. This gift will surface as the dominant gift when the Christian has just suffered something tragic such as the death of a spouse or divorce or some unusually tough times with the kids. I believe that God gives us this during the time of grief so that we will not be focused on our own problems but will become "distracted" by the problems of others. It is a coping mechanism.
4. Is attracted to people who are hurting or in distress.
Just like the Good Samaritan was.
5. Takes action to remove hurts and relieve distress in others.
Can you see each of these qualities in the passage above?
Never = 0
Seldom = 1
Sometimes = 2
Usually = 3
Mostly = 4
Always = 5
Total _______________
Seldom = 1
Sometimes = 2
Usually = 3
Mostly = 4
Always = 5
Total _______________
Continue the Study...
3 comments:
That experiment got me thinking. I suppose if I was in a hurry, I prolly would have been too consumed with my own business then to see the need of others. I don't consider that to be a good thing. All of this "earthly" life will pass away while the treasures built up in heaven will last for eternity. Thanks for this great reminder and for showing me what I need to change in myself.
And how is Gina doing???:-)
God's Grace.
Gina is doing just super :)
I'll be getting married sometime this year. No date yet because there are quite a few mountains God has to flatten before we can tie the knot. Otherwise, I'm just floating on cloud #10 :)
I am so delighted!
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