3. Merciful

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Jesus said that with the same measure we forgive and show mercy to others, it will be shown to us. Consider the idea of cereal bowls: you go to fix a bowl of your favorite cereal and while you are making noise pouring it, your wife hears and calls to you from the other room, asking you to please pour her a bowl too. Now only God knows this–but you go to pour her a bowl and 100% of us are measuring that bowl and we compare the two bowls and give our spouses the smaller bowl!
In a small way, Jesus is saying that with the same measure–the same bowlful of mercy that we show to others—thatʼs what we can expect to receive back from Him!

Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. When you get what you deserve, thatʼs called justice. Wouldnʼt it be amazing if more people showed us mercy, like, in traffic? What if our employers extended us more mercy when we made mistakes or missed a deadline? We should extend the same mercy that God has extended to us in Christ.

And as we do that, we need to check our motives, and thatʼs where verse 8 comes in, and our fourth characteristic tomorrow…