Merciful
"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3: 13
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. " Grace and mercy are two of the most common characteristics of Christ that we desire. I want the grace of God, but I NEED the mercy of God.
The most problems we face in our daily business activities usually center around people problems. They can also be the hardest problems to resolve. People fail, disappoint us, and continually make mistakes. Everybody has an attitude and an idea as to how or what should be done. Success in any business can rest on how we deal with the people problems.
In any conflict situation, forgiveness is required before we can show mercy. Failing to forgive can build resentment and bitterness towards another person. Failing to forgive can also prohibit the problem in the business from being solved. When we allow self to rule, we can loose the objective of solving the problem because our resentment towards another person becomes our objective. Solving the problem must always be our objective.
To be able to show mercy, we must first be able to see and feel things as the other person does.. That is what Jesus did when he came here on earth. Jesus got inside of each of us. As a man, Jesus saw things as we see them - He felt things with the feelings of a man. Jesus knew what we were going through, He knew our thoughts, our motives, and our human weaknesses. He, therefore, forgave us and bestowed his mercy on undeserved people like you and me.
The owner of a large electronics company began to receive reports of repeated failure in some of their contracts. He traced the problem to a particular plant manager. He called in the manager and demanded that the shift supervisor responsible be terminated immediately. When notice reached the other supervisors, they went to the plant manager and informed him that the wife of the supervisor in question was in the hospital with cancer. The supervisor had been traveling back and forth to another town each day and had incurred over $50,000 in medical expenses. When this was reported to the owner, he requested that the plant manager place the supervisor on half days with full pay. In addition, the owner set up a medical fund among the employees within the company to help with the expenses.
Mercy does not condone wrong doing, but shows compassion and care for the other person. Mercy holds people accountable by pointing out the mistake and leading them in a path that will solve the problem. When a person sees that we care about them and are willing to offer forgiveness, hopefully they respond with repentance and a willingness to move forward. Great leaders lead others by showing mercy.
The 15th chapter of Luke tells the story of the prodigal son. Here is a situation where the son has left home and squandered all his father had given him. On returning home, the son deserved nothing from his father, yet the father saw some goodness in his son's heart. That, along with a repentant heart, allowed the father to forgive his son and bestow mercy upon him.
Mercy is not always deserved, but it is always required. Thank goodness when we stand before God we will not have to receive His mercy based on how much we deserved it. But what will be required, is that we have shown mercy even when it was not deserved.
Mercy in the marketplace battles with a competitive spirit to get ahead. We tend to think that to be successful we must be tough and show strength. We are to be strong, wrong is never right, but we show strength through mercy. Grace then becomes the by-product of mercy.
