I met a
man the other day who told me that he never needs mercy. I knew he was wrong, but I didn’t realize
until later how much he needed mercy from me.
He needed $1000.00 of mercy in the end.
Let me explain.
I had
parked my new car in the residential parking without a sticker. It was a Sunday. The car had paper tags (obviously brand new)
and the guest parking was completely packed.
I thought it would be okay. My
husband heard a disturbance and said, “They are towing our car.” I ran down and stopped the driver and told
him that was my car. I explained the
situation to him. He kept telling me
that I was wrong for parking there. I
agreed with him and told him that I would pay him for the tow but please don’t
tow my brand-new-car and risk damaging it.
He lied about me parking there a different night. He said he took a picture but I knew I had
not parked there before that night. I
begged him not to tow my car because I did not have transportation. My other car was in the shop. I explained that I had to be at the airport
at 7:30 the next morning for a mission trip.
He absolutely refused. We
discussed the situation over a recording that he informed us about. After a long, pointless discussion my husband
asked him if he ever needed mercy. He
told us “No.” My husband left at that
point but I looked straight in his eyes and told him that he did need mercy and
he needed it desperately. I told him
that I hoped someday he would ask Jesus for mercy and I told him that Jesus
would give it to him. At this point he
told me he was a Christian and that he was raised by military parents so when
he says he didn’t need mercy it was because he never does anything wrong. Then he left with my brand-new car trailing
behind him.
After
calling Uber and being let off in a seedy side of town late at night, I got my
car back and it was not hurt in the process.
The next day my husband discovered the city laws and city court
regarding towing. It turns out that man
broke the city laws by taking my car away after I showed up and claimed
it. He was required by law to drop it
and let me pay him half the price that I paid at the yard where he took my
car. The residence owners called the tow
truck company, and the boss quickly brought a full refund check for the
tow. Since his driver had broken the
city laws, it was now possible for us to win our case of the refund of the tow
plus $1,000 for our trouble.
Interesting, as I stood there that night I knew that I was on the hook
for $168.00 for parking in the wrong place.
I had asked for his mercy. The
reality is that because of his wrong actions he was on the hook for
$1,168. He not only needed the mercy of
Jesus, but he needed my mercy on a deeper level than I needed his.
We, every
one of us, is desperately in need of mercy.
The holiest among us know this most.
Even if I did, as the man wrongly claimed, obey every law completely, I
would still be in need of mercy. The
monks whose lives are mostly about prayer most often pray, “Lord, Jesus Christ,
have mercy on me a sinner.” When they
pray this prayer, they are praying for the whole world to receive the mercy of
God.
Jesus had a similar conversation
with Pharisees who had no idea how desperate they were for His mercy. He was willing to give it. His exposure of their need for mercy proves
it. He could have ignored them,
especially as he was days away from dying on the cross at their demand. However, He told them the truth about themselves. He told them how desperate they were for
mercy:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have
neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and
faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the
former (Matthew 23:23).
Who can you show
mercy to today? If you have no idea how
to serve God today, then find someone to whom you can show mercy. He will love that. It was my privilege to show mercy to my rude
two-truck driver. How could I not when
Jesus has been so merciful to me?
Copyright ©
2017. Deborah R Newman
teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights
Reserved.
You can order my new Advent Devotional from Amazon today for
yourself and as a gift for friends. The
first Sunday of Advent is December 3, 2017:
Comments
Post a Comment