This is the seventh of an eleven-part series on the Beatitudes.
Each part features a hymn to a familiar tune.

Jesus’ fifth beatitude is this:

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7, NASB)

Father, You are merciful.
You are kind to the undeserving.
You are generous even with the greedy and selfish.
You freely forgive those who wrong You.
You warmly welcome the unworthy.
You are gracious and patient and always good.

You call us to be the same.
If we are to be Your children,
we are to think and love and act like You.
We are to be merciful.

What’s more, the giving and receiving of mercy are inseparably linked.
We cannot receive Your forgiveness
unless we extend it to others.
Your forgiveness cannot flow to us
until it flows through us.
Until we grant forgiveness to those who have wronged us,
we remained enslaved by sin,
suffering the lovelessness, resentment, anxiety and anger that injustice brings.
We can only free ourselves by also
freeing those who have wronged us.
If mercy is the solution for sin,
it is the solution for every last one of us.

Father, Your Son showed us the way of mercy.
While being tortured till death, He prayed,

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34, NASB)

When I suffer because of someone else,
give me His Spirit.
Give me His love.

When I am asked to share with the undeserving,
give me Your generous heart.
You lavishly pour out an entire world of blessings
on both the wicked and the good.

Father, grow in me
Your compassion,
Your open heart,
Your open hand,
Your freedom from selfishness.

May the needy sense in me Your eagerness to
smile and help and bless.
Let all who cross my path,
including the unkind,
get a glimpse of Your beautiful, life-giving mercy
through me.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Let Mercy Shine
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics