Mercy

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Grace is God’s answer to sin.
Mercy is God’s answer to pain.

I saw this demonstrated at a hospital service in 1998.
The chaplain recognized the genuine grief experienced by medical staff when a patient died.
Unfortunately, many of them were forgotten when families came together to organise a funeral service. So the chaplain organised a memorial service just for the hospital.

One by one the names of the deceased were read out to a packed chapel filled with doctors, nurses and admin staff. Then the chaplain stepped forward to read the beatitudes pausing to emphasise verse 7.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

You can be the best nurse in the world and your patient will still die.
You can be the best teacher in the world and your student will still fail.
You can be the best father in the world and your child will still leave.

God knows this.
His message is simple.
I understand this pain. I have experienced this pain and I know you did the best you could with what you have.

Give yourself permission to fail.
Failure does not define you.
Failure cannot stop you.
There is always mercy with the Lord.

Watch the video of this sermon below.