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Welcome to Day 3 of our Look Through James, Chapter 2 in Daily Drive Time
Devotions. Yesterday we began a look at God's mercy in our lives and God's
judgment and we want to focus today on the end of verse 13 which says, "Mercy
triumphs over judgment. " The ideas of judgment are very strong in our society
and how do we handle God's judgment of us and how do we handle our judgment of
other people?

What do we learn from God? Well, God's answer, this is incredibly important in
the way that God treats us, God's answer to judgment isn't tolerance, it's
mercy. God doesn't tolerate our sin, He's holy, but He shows us mercy for our
sin because He is loving.

We've all seen the hypocrisy of focusing on what Jesus called a speck in
somebody else's eye while ignoring a log or a plank in our own eye. Jesus talks
about the need for us to have integrity. We need to take the log out of our own
eye and then out of that we can have the mercy to take a speck out of a brother
or sister's eye.

As Jesus talked about this, He gave us this picture of a speck in the eye and a
log in the eye, log in my eye, a speck in your eye, and He says once you've
taken the board, once you've taken the log out of your own eye, you've had the
integrity to do that, then you should have the mercy to remove the speck out of
someone else's eye. Jesus did not tell you to be tolerant. He didn't tell you to
pretend there's not a speck in your friend's eye or to only be concerned about
the plank in your own eye.

I'll just be concerned about myself, I won't be concerned about you. No, He
urged us to have mercy. He urged us to get the plank out of your eye, that's
integrity, and then He says you'll see clearly enough to help your friend get
the speck out of their eye.

How are you going to help your friend if you can't say, "I notice there's a
speck in your eye, can I help you? I notice that you're suffering. " We live in
a society that believes the opposite of judgment is tolerance, and tolerance is
falsely defined as accepting without opinion or comment, whatever choices
another person makes.

But Jesus told us that the alternative to judgment is not tolerance, it is
mercy. The alternative to being judgmental is not ignoring other people's
faults, it is showing that Jesus has forgiven all of our faults. Being
biblically non-judgmental, that's what we're focusing on today as we talk about
judgment and mercy.

It doesn't mean we pretend we don't see another person's sin. To do that, that
would be living in denial. Of course you see other people's sins.

Many of them are very obvious, just like a lot of your sins are. The question
is, what are you going to do about those obvious sins? Being non-judgmental
means we recognize we all face the same temptations.

It means we don't see anyone as outside the circle of God's grace, as beyond the
bounds of our forgiveness, His forgiveness, as outside the limits of our love.
When Jesus talks about specks and logs in people's eyes and mercy and judgment,
and as James talks about that in verse 13 of chapter 2, it's really somewhat of
an advanced degree in relationships. I know we all struggle with learning how to
show mercy without judgment.

It is so easy to be judgmental and to end up gossiping about someone's problem
rather than offering care. It's so easy to settle for a false mercy that offers
care but lacks the courage to tell somebody the truth about their sin or to
accept the truth about my own sin. But as we think about the words of Jesus
related to mercy triumphing over judgment today, the most shocking and
controversial thing that He teaches us about mercy towards others, I believe, is
this.

Mercy is not optional. Not if you want to experience and enjoy the mercy of God
in your own life. We looked at that at the end of yesterday's study.

Jesus talked about the fact that if you show mercy towards others, God will show
mercy to you. If you do not, God will not be merciful to you. Now, just wait a
minute.

Somebody who's more theologically astute might say, "Doesn't God say that His
mercy is a free gift based on His grace? Not anything that I do. So how can you
say I've got to show mercy to others in order to enjoy His mercy?

" Well, somebody who's saying that's right, of course. Salvation is not a work
that we do. It certainly is a gift of God.

That is a truth, I believe, to the depth of my soul. And yet this belief
sometimes leads us to a strange place when it comes to the way that we receive
and give mercy. We believe that God has shown mercy to us and we've accepted
this gift through faith.

His mercy and forgiveness are guaranteed by His very love. But when it comes to
our expressions of mercy towards others, we seem to think that, "Oh, those are
just subject to my all-too-human frailties. Sometimes I forgive.

Sometimes I just can't. " We choose to show mercy to some, but we decide that
others aren't as deserving of our mercy because maybe of the depth of hurt that
they've caused. Jesus put His finger on that kind of thinking and He clearly
called it wrong.

At the end of the Lord's Prayer, after teaching His disciples to pray, "Forgive
us our sins just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us," Jesus said
this, "If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will
forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive
your sins. " That mirrors what we've just heard James talk about in this second
chapter.

James picked up his teaching from Jesus. We said that in week one. If our
forgiveness from God is not based on any work we can do, how could Jesus say
something like we just read?

Because He knows the human heart. Jesus knows that those who cannot find it in
them to forgive haven't truly understood or accepted what it means to be
forgiven. When I accept God's forgiveness into my own life, it's going to make a
difference in the mercy that I show to others.

I may still struggle with mercy, but it's going to make a difference. If you're
struggling somewhere in your life with an inability to forgive, you might be
thinking, "You're not being very merciful towards me right now. You haven't been
through what I've been through.

You don't know the hurt that I've been through. " Showing mercy, forgiving that
person, you can't imagine how difficult that would be. The more deeply you've
been hurt, obviously the more your mind rebels against the thought of
forgiveness.

But Jesus helps you and me with this struggle by not pulling any punches. The
words that we're talking about today, they're not mine. They're the words of
Jesus.

Why would Jesus be so seemingly harsh and insensitive on this issue, especially
when it touches these deep places of hurt in our lives? He knows you're hurt. He
knows how difficult it is to forgive.

He died on a cross to pay the price for our sins. He knows, he knows,
forgiveness is not easy. But Jesus also knows that a flat out refusal to forgive
is a sure indication of what's going on in your heart.

He knows how easily we can allow bitterness to first stain and then destroy
every one of our relationships. He knows how Satan loves to use our refusal to
forgive to keep us from the transforming forgiveness of God in our own lives.
Now, I want to be real clear here.

I'm not talking about the time that it can take to process through our emotions
and the faith we need to choose in order to forgive. I'm talking about going
year after year after year with a subtle lack of mercy in your mind towards
someone. "I will never forgive them," you say.

I'm not talking here about trust. I'm talking about forgiveness. If someone, for
instance, steals money from your company, if you're ever going to trust them
again with your finances, it's only going to be after that trust has been
regained over time.

Trust will take time to rebuild. It may never be rebuilt, yet merciful
forgiveness is to be offered immediately. Mercy, listen, mercy is the proper
response to those who have received God's mercy.

Mercy takes courage. Why? Because mercy is often rejected.

People reject God's mercy all the time. His mercy is perfect. He's perfect.

Naturally, they're going to reject our imperfect expressions of mercy. Mercy is
always to be offered, but it's not always accepted. What's my part of that?

My part is to offer it. If you think people will always respond well to your
acts of mercy, you're just kidding yourself. When I'm angry at someone who
responds with kindness towards me, I've got to tell you the truth.

Sometimes it makes me even angrier. "Why are you being so kind to me? I
stubbornly want to stay angry, and I'm not happy with someone who's putting a
finger on that sensitive, prideful nerve in my life.

" When you say to someone, "Can I help you get that speck out of your eye? "
you're going to get all kinds of reactions. "What speck?

" some people are going to say. "Who do you think you are? " other people are
going to say.

"Keep your nose out of my business. Keep your finger out of my eye. " What do
you do when your offer of mercy is rejected?

You do what Jesus did. He continued to show mercy. He offered merciful
forgiveness, even while being ridiculed, rejected, and nailed to a cross.

When you're offering mercy, remember that we often initially see mercy as a
threat rather than an expression of love. We treat God this way all the time. So
instead of feeling drawn in by the love and forgiveness of Jesus, we feel
threatened by how God might step in and mess up my life.

The truth is, he's there to make your life more than it could ever be without
him. When you're rejected for an expression of kind mercy, remember that you're
in some very good company. In the Old Testament, prophet Micah said these
familiar words, "And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. " Concerning
this love of mercy, Gary Thomas writes, "We've all heard of believers who rail
against someone else's sin, only to discover later that they were enmeshed in
exactly that struggle. When we fail to love with mercy, we often deal with our
own sin by denouncing it in others.

In contrast," he finishes, "mercy invites us to admit our guilt, receive God's
forgiveness, and then stop judging others. " William Shakespeare's famous quote
is a picture of the beauty and the blessing of mercy. "The quality of mercy is
not strained.

It dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice
blessed. It blesseth him that give and him that takes.

" And the last word on mercy goes to Jesus, Matthew 5-7, "Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy. " As we pray today, I've done this study
on mercy and forgiveness because I know how many of us struggle with
forgiveness. Yesterday we talked about asking Christ to forgive us.

That's where you begin. Today I encourage you to ask Christ for the strength to
forgive others. Who do you need to forgive?

To whom do you need to show mercy because God has shown you mercy. Ask God for
the strength and then pray the simple prayer, "Jesus Christ, I forgive them in
your name because you have forgiven. " Jesus Christ, thank you that you've
forgiven me.

And I know that I'm going to have memories of this. I'm going to remember what
happened. Each time I remember this, I choose to remember the cross and what you
did for me.

I thank you for your forgiveness of me. And because you've forgiven me, I pray
for the strength to be merciful, forgiving towards others. I pray for this in
your name, Jesus.

Amen.