Letting Mercy Lead

In one of my favorite Rich Mullins songs he sings, “Let mercy lead, let love be the strength in your legs, and in every footprint that you leave there’ll be a drop of grace.”

Primarily, mercy is “compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power.” Mercy is when it is in your power to assist someone in need – someone that doesn’t “deserve” or hasn’t “earned” your help - and you help. Mercy alleviates misery.

So, with this Rich Mullins song in my head, I am asking myself, “Am I letting ‘mercy lead’?”

Yeshua (‘Jesus’ in Aramaic) often quoted an ancient prophet to the proud “religious” of his own day, “Mercy I desire, not sacrifice!” In their holy stringency for pristine purity they had lost sight of the weightier matters of the Torah – love for neighbors and helping the orphans and widows. Theirs was a religion of straining out flies while swallowing camels. (Neither flies nor camels are kosher, mind you!)

“Mercy, not sacrifice.” That is, “alleviation of suffering, not ritual habits.” Does the prophet speak to the religious institutions of our own day? I suppose there are churches out there that are being called to ease up on ceremony and to “let mercy lead.” But perhaps more importantly, does the prophet speak to me? Am I following mercy’s lead?

I can say that the areas of life where I consciously follow mercy are a bit more scary – because moves of mercy are generally not moves to build personal privacy or security. They take me out of my comfort zone. More often than not they put me on my knees. I have found that in order to act with mercy, I must all the more depend on God’s mercy for me.

What opportunity is there in your life to show mercy? Are you willing to get a bit uncomfortable to “let mercy lead”? What is the alternative?