Sometimes You Have to Be in the Red!

In most instances of life, we want to always keep ourselves in the black! Being in the black in regards our accounts is a very good thing – it means that we don’t owe more out than we have coming in. This is a good principle to follow, beyond our account ledger, in fact the Bible says:

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law Romans 13:8 (KJV)

Walking through life in perfect balance is a difficult thing to do, there are too many situations that occur beyond our control when the ledger sheet of our lives is out of balance. – this is a good time to go to the red! What red do I mean, the Red letters in the Bible! As much as we find comfort and solace in the Psalms of David, as much as we find instruction for daily living i the epepistles of Paul, as much as may look for prophetic insight in the words of the prophets – there are some times in our life when nothing but the Red will do!

For example we read:

Psalm 103:17
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

It is a good word – we love it! We can store it in our heart. Yet when we go to Matthew 5;7 – we get the whole picture:

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

We find that the reason why we might not be feeling the mercy of the Lord, is because we are not extending mercy! And Jesus didn’t stop with mere words, He gave clear illustrations of the truth that He spoke:

36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Luke 10:36-37 (KJV)

Even we as the people of God want to grab ahold of a promise, and run with it, without recognizing that behind every great truth must be a great life! Every young Jewish boy had to memorize the first five books of the Bible (the Torah) before his Bar Mitzpah – for them knowing the law was a necessity. Jesus confused these learned men when He took the law off the pages of their heart and demanded that they execute that real law of God in their lives – and not in easy situations – but in challenging ones – the real test of strength!

Living out this life we’ve been given requires more than giving an intellecctual assent to the Word of God – those midnight hours when we wrestle with a situation that we would rather forget brings us to understadnding Red Letter Words like these:

6But I tell you, Something greater and more exalted and more majestic than the temple is here!
7And if you had only known what this saying means, I desire mercy [readiness to help, to spare, to forgive] rather than sacrifice and sacrificial victims, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8For the Son of Man is Lord [even] of the Sabbath.Matthew

When we really understand mercy, though it may cause us to have to die more to ourself, we gain so much more in the knowledge of just how great our God is!

Selah,
Maria