Mercy Wins.

I guess I felt kind of stupid this morning as I was digging through the James study and in chapter 2 came across the words Beth chose to name the study: "Mercy Triumphs."  Never really thought about where she got the name ... should have known it would come straight from the pages of Scripture.  But I didn't remember it.  I am starting to think that so often I read but don't truly hear.  Don't truly take it to heart or adequately apply it to my life.  I've read James probably more times than any other book.  Have led studies on it.  And still, am being challenged daily with the truth found in its pages. 

I often flip through biblegateway.com to compare how Scripture is phrased in different translations.  It helps me to get a better understanding of what is being said.  I did my study this morning out of the NKJV, but struck with the fact that I remember very little of these verses, I decided to look through some other renderings of those words.  Here is how it's said in the message:

You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: "Love others as you love yourself." But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others. The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period. Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.  (James 2:8-13)

Throughout Scripture, God tells us that love fulfills the law.  Loving others as ourself fulfills all the other laws.  If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will not covet or gossip.  You will not murder or commit adultery.  You will not lie or cheat.  And more than what you will NOT do, you WILL treat them with kindness and respect.  You will be thoughtful and attentive to their needs.  You will resist judging or prejudice.  You will give generously not grudgingly.  You will fulfill the law.

Beth asks in today's study:
How could loving others as we loved ourselves turn out to be liberating to us?

I've been pondering that this morning as I listen to the thunder and rain (such a great morning for thinking).  I am learning that I have a hard time with very restrictive, extreme, limiting kinds of rules.  I think it's because I have the self-discipline of an ant.  I decided to give up diet coke for 21 days ... and made it 14 hours!  I made it three days, I think on the Daniel fast ... it is soooo hard for me to stay committed to something that has no room for variation.  I kind of see that like the OT law.  A set, immovable set of rules that must be obeyed to the letter.  If something must be finished by sundown, that doesn't mean, close to sundown.  If you are to walk no more than 2 miles, that doesn't mean 2.1.  I am finding that I live much better when I am governed by principles that give me room for choice.  That's why WW worked for me (and I wonder why I'm not doing that NOW!!)  It gave me parameters, but it gave me room in those parameters.  I was not constantly failing.  I could have a diet coke (if I got in my water as well).  I could eat at Moes ... or CFA.  I didn't have to eat the same 2 meals every day for 3 weeks.  There was FREEDOM in that.

I think that's what James is getting at here.  At least it makes sense to me.  When we set out to follow such a specific, prescribed set of rules, we are set up to fail.  We might get it right by not commiting adultery, but if we murder, it doesn't matter what we got right because we just blew it all.  When we live with the idea of loving our neighbor as ourself, there is freedom in how we do that!  It might mean bringing a meal to a family with a new baby.  It might mean sending a card to someone who's hurting, listening when someone talks to you, making time for a cup of coffee, chopping wood, cleaning a house (I loved a story Kristen told me last week about her SS class totally cleaning and repairing the house of a single mom and her kids!) giving up your free time, not judging, not being short, snarky or sarcastic.  It means giving value.  It means freedom.

Freedom and more responsibility.  It's easy sometimes to follow a prescribed set of rules (well, if you have self discipline to do it).  You can mark it off the list at the end of the day and say you've done it!  The hard part about the freedom is that it's never "done" ... you love and then you love some more and some more and some more. 

In the end, MERCY wins.