Hold That Tongue

 

I remember when my daughter was in college and was being trained to be a Resident Assistant in the dorms. She called me one night and said they had been doing role-plays of possible dorm situations. She said, “Mom, I have no mercy!” (The apple didn’t fall far from the tree!)

I asked her to explain and she said they had been given a situation with a girl who had been at college for about 6 weeks and was really homesick. She said she wanted to say, “Get over it.” or “Save the drama.” She couldn’t muster up any compassion.

As God does he paired her with another R.A. on her floor who had plenty of mercy and when the situation was real she mustered a little herself.

What concerns me is that I know that’s a trait I’ve passed on. Recently there was a situation in our church that required some discernment about another woman and something she was asking several other women to participate in. My daughter and I responded in the same way. “No thanks.” Many other women responded with far more compassion. We were not unkind, just firm in our stance. Some who participated said they were afraid that this woman who was coordinating the event would be hurt and feel rejected if they didn’t participate. That wasn’t a big concern for me.

Flippantly I said, “I guess I just have no mercy!” And in this situation I didn’t because I didn’t see genuine need. At other times, when I see genuine need I can be very compassionate. Interestingly I realized today that what has me worked up is that I was flippant about mercy. God has shown mercy to me in His forgiveness of my sin. Believe me this is huge! If I do not show mercy I am not showing others the same grace that God has shown me.

I think I was right in my response to the lady in question at church. I was not harsh or cold. I politely and honestly refused the invitation and offered to help in a different way if needed later. Perhaps that could even have been seen as compassionate.

My sin and my lack of compassion were in listening to and talking to others about it. I have received what a friend of mine calls a “spiritual spanking” for my flip attitude about the mercy I need to have because of the mercy God has shown me and the fact that I was too willing to speak about it.

Matthew 6:7says “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” And Proverbs 21:23 says, “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”

In the future one of my acts of mercy will be that I will hold my tongue when what I am about to say is not merciful! I would never want to cut off the line of God’s mercy to me!