말보다 말씀! 빚보다 빛!

11/8

Good Friday to our Woori Church Youth! Hope you guys had a great week! Definitely winter is almost upon us. Which means? Christmas is almost here. The most wonderful time of the year! This week, we will be discussing another key fruit of the Holy Spirit, mercy. Please take 2 minutes and give it to God by reading:
 Galatians 5:22. Have a great weekend, stay warm, and see you all at Papa’s house on Sunday!

Mercy...We’ve all heard many phrases concerning “mercy.” ”Oh, mercy, mercy me,” “Lord have mercy.” Or in Matthew; “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” What is mercy and why do we NEED to receive it? To me, Mercy is synonymous with forgiveness. MERCY=FORGIVENESS
Jesus teaches us when asked how many times we must forgive others, He tell the person not 7 times, but 70 times 7! In other words, as long as they ask for forgiveness, we must forgive them. Why? Can’t we just turn around and not be friends with them instead? Why must we have mercy towards others when they hurt us? We should all know the answer, but just to make to sure. What do we ask God for every time we sin or disobey Him? We ask Him to forgive us and have mercy on us. Does He ever say NO? Does He keep notes on how many times He forgives us? Does He hold grudges and say, not this time!?

He forgives us as many times as we ask Him to. But, we must be truly sorry and earnest with our request for forgiveness. Just like the word “love”, I feel like “I’m sorry” is used too frequently without the person actually knowing what he/she is really sorry about. I hope that you all will not make it a habit to say you’re sorry and turn around and do the same thing again. If someone forgives you, we must make a conscious effort to not repeat the offense. We must learn from our mistakes and try not to make the same ones again. But, it surely is easier said than done! None of are perfect, only Jesus! This is why we must always keep our eyes on Jesus and His teachings. We must give freely to receive. Jesus told His disciples, when He sent them ahead of Him to towns and villages, to give freely what you have received freely. I truly believe that Jesus was talking about mercy and forgiveness. Since we have received forgiveness of our sins for free, we must have mercy and forgive others without charge. The foundation of having a relationship with Jesus begins with confessing and asking for forgiveness of our sins. Who are we to decided who we forgive? Only God, our Creator and Savior, has the ability!

Psalm 32 says,  "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit."

Have a great weekend and be merciful to those who hurt and say mean things about you. They will be judged!

David Kim