Mercy or No Mercy

Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law.

Psalm 94:12 

 

Should I have said something?  

Last week I wrote about a little girl in a Moon Bounce who defied the authority of the man in charge. She was told to “watch out for the little guy” so she turned to the little one and smacked him on the back. Both the man in charge and I were so surprised by the act of hostility and the smile on the little boy’s face, that we let it go. But, should one of us have said something?  

We did not know this little girl. I had seen her Mom struggling to control her in the “festival” atmosphere and she was having a difficult time. By observation we could see that defying authority was common practice for this little girl.  

We were at the church. The point of the evening was to draw families so we could introduce them to the idea of our Wednesday evening children’s ministries and invite them to participate. This presented some problems for me.  

1. This was a little girl who needs to know the Lord. Extending mercy to her as God has extended His to us seems like a good idea. It may bring her in to learn from God’s Word.

2. If she comes back thinking she will not be corrected, we have created a big problem for those who teach.

3. If she comes in thinking we will not stop her from hitting another, much smaller, weaker, child, then we are telling other parents that their children are not safe with us.   

I read a book a long time ago called “Never Silent” about what happened in the Episcopalian church when people remained silent about sin. It grew and grew until the church was so far from God that blasphemy entered and has remained in many congregations. Since that time I have been very conscious of the fact that we need to point out sin, that we should not tolerate any more than God does, especially in the church.  

At the same time I have observed, especially in my own life, that God does tolerate a certain amount of sin in the lives of His people. He died for us while we were still sinners, according to Romans 5:8. It is in His grace that when He saves us He does not show us all of our sin at once! It would be overwhelming if He did. God is constantly working on me to point out my sin and, according to the scriptures, He is faithful and just and will forgive that sin when I confess it.  

If a person’s heart can be judged by what comes out of it I have to assume that this little girl in the Moon Bounce does not know Jesus Christ as her Savior. The social worker in me says that there has been something that the authorities in her life have done to her that she does not trust them. From my brief observations of her in this setting I have to admit that I am glad we let the sin go this time and extended a little mercy.  

However, I also have to admit that if she were to come on Wednesday nights the authorities in the program would have to start the year with her with a pretty tough stance on the rules. Inside the program she would have to learn that her sin is not acceptable and that the authorities have a responsibility to protect other children from her defiance. The difficult balance is to show her that she is loved.  

It is in love for another that we discipline so they will get to know God. He will point out sin to His children and so must we, if we love them enough to want them right with God. Isaiah 59:2  says, “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” This verse applies to believers and unbelievers.  

For unbelievers they are separated from God because of their sin. Until we recognize that we are sinners, Christ’s death is inconsequential. We only appreciate His death when we realize that He substituted for us in taking the punishment for our sin.  

For the believer, what a difficult truth to think that if we have known and unrepented sin, God will not hear our prayers! He is a just God, if we will not listen to Him He will not listen to us!  

I pray that showing mercy to this young, misguided, and defiant girl was the right thing to do. I would also love to see her corrected to the point that she can hear how much God loves her and come to know Him as a consistent and Trustworthy authority over her.  

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12