“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7)
By Alan Brozik
9-14-26
A Lesson About Mercy and Love
I was led by the Holy Spirit to read James 2 to start with today. After praying for wisdom and for God to open His word and my understanding, I began to go into “analysis mode” where the principles of bible study I had learned from man were coming into play. I was thinking about “how would the people of James’ day have understood this passage” and “what was the culture of the time like” so I could understand the passage. The Holy Spirit stopped me and reminded me that while those things are good, keep in mind that scripture, the word of God, is spiritually understood (1 Cor. 2:12-14). I prayed that God would again open my understanding of James 2 so I could understand it spiritually to apply it to my life. God did not disappoint.
The very first thing I read in James 2:1-13 was “show no partiality” and I knew in my heart of hearts that I do that very thing. I am drawn to people who are better dressed and appear more affluent by the world’s standards than those I may meet at treatment. There is an immediate judgment on my part because they are for the most part poor, not well dressed, less educated, addicts covered in tattoos speaking in a manner that is worldly and uneducated. All of this is immediate in my reaction as I encounter them but God stopped me and said, “You are just like them, hurting inside because of poor choices you made to avoid the pain of life.” I am a recovering addict by the grace of God, but more than that I am also saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Addiction does not define me. Many of those I stood in judgment on are coming to know Jesus as their Savior and being delivered, set free from the bondage they have experienced, the same as I. Others need to come to know Him and experience the freedom He has for them too. We are walking the same path to know Jesus and experience the forgiveness and deliverance of God.
James 2:4-5 continues with this thought,
“4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?”
I have often, through the pride in my heart, elevated myself in my own thinking to a place of superiority making myself out to be better than others spiritually. That “judgment” is evil and is sin. The Beatitudes in Matt. 5 start by saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and in Luke 6 “Blessed are you who are poor” indicating that God has not chosen the wisdom of man but the “foolishness of God” which is the gospel to bring people to faith to inherit the kingdom of God as His heirs (1 Cor. 1:20-31). It is not the rich and famous through whom He often chooses to work but the poor, lowly, humble people who recognize their sinfulness and repent. They become rich in faith trusting in the riches of Christ not their own abilities or the ways and wisdom of the world. How easy it is for me to stand in judgment because of my education and forget that it is because of Christ Jesus that I have faith at all. I am saved by grace through faith, and this not of myself, it is the gift of God, not by works lest I should boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Much of the education I have is taught by man and brings pride. That is the knowledge God is stripping me of and teaching me the wisdom that comes down from above, taught by the Spirit through His living word, letting scripture interpret scripture, relying on God, not the wisdom of man (James 3:13-18).
Several words and phrases stood out to me in James 2:8-9, 12-13 including: “royal law…You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [from Lev. 19:18], “partiality…sin” culminating in v. 12-13, “12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” The law of liberty, the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), “for freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1), walking by the Spirit, and the law of reaping and sowing (Gal. 6:7) are all similar but encompass what we have been set free from (the law of sin and death) and what we now have in Christ Jesus (freedom in Christ). Yes, we have freedom but we are not to use that freedom to please the flesh or to be self serving. The law of liberty says that we are to “love your neighbor as yourself” as quoted from Lev. 19:17-18, “17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Jesus quoted this as the 2nd of the greatest commandments indicating its vast importance (Mark 12:31). We have freedom in Christ, but that freedom is to show mercy through love; love for the lost, those in need like the orphan and the widow, and the outcast downtrodden of the world without hope and without an advocate. These are the people to whom Jesus was sent and to whom we must go. Judgment without mercy will come to those who do not show mercy. This is the law of sowing and reaping. But remember “Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
After showing me this, the Holy Spirit took me back to the Beatitude in Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” God showed me many years ago as a new Christian that the Beatitudes as taught in Matt 5 are like steps that build one upon another in growing measure as we mature in Christ. We have immediate access to them all as believers in Christ but the fullness of each blessing comes as we surrender, submit in humility to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to apply these attitudes in our hearts replacing our evil desires with His holy and righteous desires. We can then be spiritually prepared to receive the fullness of the next blessing God desires to give. This is the process of sanctification – to be set apart, to be holy and righteous, becoming more like Jesus.
Where I have gone in a circle for most of my life as a believer is in the first four: poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness. I’ve gone in and out of each of these steps never being able to reach the place I have longed to get which is the blessing that states “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). When God brought me back to the Beatitudes today I noticed that there was a step between where I have circled for so many years and where I longed to be – it was “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” God showed me that the spiritual block to my progression in my relationship with Him to experience a pure heart so I could see God was “mercy.” It’s always amazing to me how God orchestrates His word and leading by the Holy Spirit to weave things all together for the benefit of His children and to His glory. Thank you Lord for Your steadfast love!
A Prayer
Father, I confess my sin of judgment and pride. I surrender my will to Yours, submitting in humility to You. I confess my sin of being unmerciful and self centered in the freedom You have given. Please work in me the attitude of mercy. Not so that I can just progress through the steps but that my heart will be truly broken for those around me that need you. That includes my wife and the rest of my family. Forgive me for my self-centered pride and deliver me from the sinful desires of my heart by which I am dragged away and enticed. I ask that You would give me the desires of my heart – not the things that I want or the sinful desires therein – but that the desires of my heart would change to match the desires of Your heart that I might be a man after Your own heart. Please grow me, mold me, shape me, into the child of God You’d have me to be. Lord please use me as an instrument of Your love. I ask all these things in Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.
(Scriptures referred to in this prayer: James 1:14-15; Psalm 37:4 and 21:2)
Appendix
Scriptures Used in the Article
Matthew 5:3-8 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Luke 6:20 – 20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 – “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
James 2:1-13 – “1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
1 Corinthians 1:20-31 – “20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
James 3:13-18 – “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
Romans 8:2 – “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Galatians 5:1 – “1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 6:7 – “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
Leviticus 19:17-18 – ““You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
Mark 12:31 – “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
James 1:14-15 – “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 21:2 – “You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah”
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