Blessed are the merciful, for they would be shown mercy. –Matthew 5: 7(NIV).

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and do not pay attention to the plank in your own eye? –Matthew 7: 1-3(NIV).

That’s my Jesus. Do you hear Him using the words of a carpenter? He sure was one!

The Sermon on the Mount recorded in the Bible is so huge for me. I told my Jesus that I wanted to understand them and ever since, He has been breaking them down for me bit by bit. He started with the issue of love, mercy.

Every time we expect people to understand us and everything about how we choose to do our things. For instance, when I make a mistake or fail to do what I am supposed to do I just expect to be understood and not misunderstood. Jesus made me to understand that I should show people around me love and kindness by just trying to understand them- their hearts, whether they are right or wrong. This is love and that is mercy. If someone messes ups my kitchen, Jesus wants me to understand and sympathize with the fact that they do not know a better way to do it or that they are not just me who have a special way of keeping my kitchen. I don’t have to be mad at them. God puts up with me and I should do the same for my neighbor.

I don’t have to condemn even if I am condemned. Understanding is mercy, mercy is not judging.

While I was just taking in what my Jesus was saying to me as I went on with my activity, I discovered that there were and there are still things in me that people may not find acceptable. I love home making for instance and I savor every moment of it. And as a microbiologist I love my home to be maximally germ free and not just squeaky clean. One day, I was slow while trying to enjoy my home making and yet do it ‘microbiologically’. That day He was teaching me about mercy, I did just little in 8 hours- they were almost perfectly done though. I couldn’t finish and I had an appointment to meet up with so I needed my sister’s help. I asked for it, she complained and my brother felt that I was just being unfair. It was then that he told me bluntly that he didn’t see what I had been doing all the while. I tried explaining but I had to rush out nonetheless. I felt sad but surprisingly I decided to understand that my brother was right to misunderstand me although he sounded insensitive. So I kept my temper in check and agreed sincerely that I was slow. Later that day, my Jesus reassured me and told me by His Spirit that He understood me just as I chose to understand the supposed unkindness of my brother’s judgment. I was merciful even when I was not shown mercy, this is love, and this is Christianity. Whenever I fail to see peoples’ opinions and views from their very own eyes, then I am simply being unmerciful, unloving, and ‘unchristian’. I knew Jesus watched all that happened that day, and that He was even with me while I did the home that day. When I was a little careless with my time and was even misunderstood for it, he ceased the opportunity to let me learn practically what mercy, love and Christianity was all about. He reminded me that time is a talent and that He gave it to us equally and that He expects me to use it well. He is teaching me how anyways. He is my helper.

If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice; you would not have condemned the innocent. –Matthew 12: 7(NIV).