Make mercy, kindness your standard of living

"Mercy triumphs over judgment."

- James 2:13 (NIV)

I've noticed mercy seems to have been lost in this day and age. I'm not sure anyone even uses the word anymore.

With everyone wanting justice and vengeance, we tend to forget God is about mercy, which is being forgiven when we don't deserve it. God extends mercy to us and expects us to receive and extend it as well.

In Matthew 9:13, Jesus informs us: "Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy (readiness to help those in trouble)." Bible stories show us how God extended mercy over and over to those ready to receive it.

When we think of our own personal stories of how we came to know God, it's a story of how we noticed God's mercy toward us.

I don't know about you, but I'm glad when someone is merciful or kind toward me. We love to be recipients, but why is it so difficult to dish out?

I think it's because of our untrusting nature. We don't like being taken advantage of. We think showing mercy means we're allowing someone to walk all over us.

But it doesn't mean we throw caution to the wind. It means we choose to show forgiveness while keeping watchful and establishing healthy limits against unhealthy behavior.

Most times, it's simply understanding we all make mistakes and carrying on as if nothing happened. That includes being merciful toward our own mistakes.

When we get worn down by the problems we face, sometimes it seems more difficult to extend mercy. When we're in a bad mood or someone ruffles our feathers, it may not be easy. But if we go back to the basics, mercy and kindness should be our standard of living.

I believe if we could gain insight into how much mercy it takes for God to love us, we could extend a little bit of our own to each other.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.