The Triumph of Mercy

"So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

James 2:12-13

Freely we have received life, forgiveness and salvation by faith in Christ, and the mercy and love God has shown us ought to impact our sense of justice.  From a young age children understand the concept of fairness, and often this view is devoid of God's grace.  In the eyes of a victim who has been wronged the desire for justice is strong.  The Bible reveals the merciful character of God which affirms, "Mercy triumphs over judgment."

It is possible for a person to show mercy in judgment because they recognise their own need for mercy.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-2, "Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  The words of Jesus and the passage from the book of James align perfectly with one another.  If our judgments of others are without a measure of mercy, God will use this standard as a basis for our judgment.  All Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for the deeds done in the body during our lives, and the wise will desire mercy to triumph on that day.

But it would be a shame to reduce our motivation to show mercy to a self-serving one:  shouldn't mercy triumph over judgment because we have already received mercy from God and value it?  If judgment triumphed over mercy when Adam sinned, humanity would have been wiped from the earth permanently in a moment.  Had justice triumphed over mercy, Cain would have been executed for the murder of his brother.  This also is true for each one of us.  As much as we desire "justice to be done," the mercies of God are new every morning towards us for great is God's faithfulness, grace and love.  His compassion fails not.

Having received such mercy from God, knowing He is merciful towards us today and will be merciful to us in the future for all eternity, this ought to prompt us to show mercy to others.  Know that no one "gets away" with anything before our just God who will not pardon the guilty, and if He did not put our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west we would be eternally condemned.  The satisfied feeling we have when we believe justice has been done should be fundamentally shifted to mercy being shown by us to those who do not deserve or fully appreciate it.  Praise God for His goodness, that His mercy triumphs over judgment.