Mercy Minion

Today I want to spend a little time talking about two very tough words - mercy and grace.

Several times lately, I have heard someone mention the word karma.  When they use this word, what they are basically saying is that someone got what was coming to them and normally this applies to something  bad happening to someone and the fact that they deserved it.

For instance, when someone is mean to you and let's say they call you something bad.  Then a couple of days later you hear that something bad happened to them.  It can be very easy for us feel like this bad person got what they deserved and maybe they did.  But let me ask you something - Do you want what you deserve all the time?  Do you want that karma to play a part in your life?  Because I know me, and I certainly don't want to get what I deserve because I can tell you that by some of my actions, I deserve some pretty bad stuff.

Now most people who know me would say that I am a pretty nice guy.  I try to help people and try to give where ever I can.  But there was one time that I was an extremely huge jerk.  See, my brother, his wife, my ex-wife and I all went to the movies one night.  Now we were at the snack counter buying stuff for the movie and I think my brother's wife ordered a hot dog that we didn't get so I mentioned it to the clerk.  From there, things spiraled downward pretty quickly and an one point he called my sister-in-law a liar.  This really made me mad so I told this sixteen year old kid that I had a law degree and was smart and successful (at least that's the way I will clean it up for this) and I also told him that he was a worthless nobody who would never make it out of the job he was in.  I told him to enjoy working at a movie theater or pumping gas the rest of his life because that was all he would ever do.

Are you little surprised at me?  Well, I can tell you that to this day, it is one of the things in my life that I am most ashamed of.  That kid didn't deserve the stuff I said to him.  So let's talk about karma.  As I said, I am really a good guy at heart and I want people to judge me for my heart and not necessarily for the things I say or do.  Did I make a mistake with that kid? - YES!!!  Am I extremely sorry that I said what I did? - YES!!!  Would I ever want to say something like that again? - NO!!!  So did I deserve to have something bad happen to me because I said what I did?  According to people who run around talking about karma, I did.  But thank God I don't serve the God of karma.  I serve a God who is full of mercy and grace.  What mercy and grace mean is that even though I deserve one thing, I get something else.  Let's say I deserve to have something bad happen to me because of what I said to that kid, but I am thankful that God had mercy on me and gave me grace so that nothing bad happened.

Before I leave the movie theater story, I want to tell you one of the most grown up things I have ever done in my life.  As you may know I like the movie Dirty Dancing.  Now my favorite line is by Baby's father.  He confronts Johnny at the end of the movie and says something along the lines of "I know you didn't get that girl in trouble," and Johnny basically says, "So."  Then here is my favorite line.  Baby's dad says, "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."  So I sat down in the theater and felt such a conviction from the Lord about what I had done that I told my then wife, I had to go back and talk to the kid.  I will never forget walking up to him.  He was standing at one end of the counter and it looked like he had just been ripped up and down both walls for our altercation which had gotten pretty heated.  The manager started down toward us to break up what he thought was going to be round two.  But when he got close, he heard me telling this kid how sorry I was for my actions.  I told him that I was a christian and what I said was absolutely horrible and awful.  Then I did something strange, I asked him to forgive me for being so ugly.  He said he was sorry too and that he too was a Christian.  We both walked away apologizing to each other.  I don't know where that young man is today but I hope he is fulfilling all his dreams.  I certainly wish him the very best in life.

So back to mercy and grace.  I just told you of a time when I needed God's mercy and grace to cover something bad I did.  But let's talk about a little different situation now.



But what about when someone does you wrong?  First of all, take a minute to look through their eyes at the situation.  You might see things much differently if you do.  Remember that hurting people hurt other people.  If someone hurts you, it is very likely that they are hurt themselves.  Again, I don't want you to let someone continue to hurt you but I do want you to consider mercy and grace.  If you have a way to let them off the hook, consider it.  After all, don't you want someone to give you grace when you mess up?  We all know that you and I never mess up on purpose.  Sometimes we just do stupid things.  Is it possible that the other person you are mad at right now is in the same boat?  They didn't mean to hurt you, they just did?  I know that sometimes this isn't the case but sometimes it is.

So I want to leave you with this thought, there is a God in Heaven that constantly shows us mercy and grace and when we get in trouble, we always want someone to show us mercy and grace.  Then we are going to have to stop giving people what they deserve and give them what we want instead - mercy and grace.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion