The Quality of Mercy

I am not really a Shakespeare reading kind of guy. However, in my devotional reading this morning, I came across this line from "The Merchant of Venice" that reads: "The quality of mercy us not strained, It droppeth the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath: It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

When "Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'” (Acts 20:35), he was contrasting relative value, not discounting the value of either. There is a value in both the giving and receiving. When one gives, the one to which he gives receives the direct value of the gift itself, while the one giving receives the indirect value found in the act of giving.

When you give your spouse or your child a gift, they get something of relative value while you receive the warmth of having blessed someone you love. When you give to someone down on their luck, the get something they were in need if, while you get the satisfaction of having met their need.  Giving is a two-sided blessing.

So, why aren't we looking for opportunities to give?  Why is it that people so often keep from making eye contact with the homeless and the one at the street corner begging for help?  What prevents us from making that gift that may well make their and our day as well?  The lie does - the lie that we need to keep God's blessings to ourselves, that we can't afford to be generous with what God has given us.

The truth is that we cannot afford to hold on to what God intends to channel through us to another.  Just as Jesus sent out the apostles with the mandate, "Freely you have received; freely give"(Mat 10:18), so we are blessed with a responsibility to carry that blessing to others.  God's blessings are meant to be a path to healing not a pathogen to hoarding.

So, if you're in need of a blessing, look for the person God has sent hour way to make it happen. But don't necessarily expect to be the one on the receiving end. Maybe your blessing will be found in the giving. Either way, God can bless you mightily. That is the true quality of mercy. Jus' Say'n.