No Mercy

Remember “Seth”? He was one of the bullies that made life miserable for me back in middle school. He rode my bus and (thankfully) was one of the last to be picked up in the mornings and the first to be dropped off in the afternoons. I appreciated having as little exposure to him as possible.

Well, I survived three years of middle school (7th-9th grades) and was rewarded by going to high school as a sophomore (no freshman hazing for me!). As the years passed by, my memories of middle school bullying began to dim and fade into a dusty chapter named “ancient history”.

Or so I thought.

I was taking an economics class at college several years later when HE walked in and took a seat.

It was Seth, and he was even bigger than before.

Just my luck, in a city of millions, in a school made up of tens of thousands of students, Seth would just happen to walk through those doors.

I stayed still, avoiding drawing any attention to myself (hey, it was a reflex ok?), but was soon spotted anyways. His face burst into a big grin and … he moved over to fill the vacant seat next to mine.

“Hey! How are you doing?!” He stuck out a meaty hand. I took it and gave a firm shake.

“We went to South Miami Middle School together right?” he asked.

I nodded dumbly in reply, “Yeah.”

“Great! It’s nice seeing a familiar face.”

So we sat together in class the rest of the semester. One day as he was giving me a lift from my dorm to the class (which was at the far side of campus), I finally asked why he was so nice now after what he put me through in middle school.

He was taken aback. “Really? I did that to you? Man, I’m so sorry.”

I could tell he was sincere, and it was my turn to be shocked. For most of my young life, I had put people into specific boxes. Boxes of my own design. I categorized people and stuck these labels on them with super-glue.

Trouble was, I didn’t realize how much people could change.

God used Seth to show me that He can indeed change people (even me).

And I am grateful that God hasn’t finished with me yet. I am grateful that He is merciful over my “enemies” as He is merciful over me.

Let us remember to pray for others so that God may change our hearts towards them.

Joe

Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Jonah 4
This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.

Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”

“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

NLTse