Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Why Mercy?

God's Word challenged us to "spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed." (Isaiah 58:10).

He is delighted with life-saving medical care for a child in Honduras.

The three-year old girl lay listless and moaning in her mother's arms when they arrived at the weekly MTW medical clinic in Armenia Bonita, Honduras. The missionaries quickly diagnosed a serious case of pneumonia, but the weeping mother was too poor to afford to take her daughter to the hospital The team did what they could, giving the girl a breathing treatment and some antibiotics. Only a week later, the little girl ran into the clinic, jumped into the lap of the MTW missionary, kissed her, and said, "Gracias!"

He is delighted with food offered in His name to hungry gypsies.

The mother was in tears because she had nothing to feed her family. Like all Roma (disparagingly called gypsies) they live, despised by all, on the edge of society in Slovakia. But God heard her cry, sending a believing Roma neighbor with the last bag of potatoes purchased for distribution by an MTW missionary. The grateful mother could only sob, crying repeatedly "How did you know?" She like others in the village are seeing multiplied acts of sacrificial love by God's people-softening hearts to the gospel, redeeming their dignity, and opening doors for the building of God's Church.

Why do we do mercy?

Because we know God.
And love God.
And we are commanded to love others
(even more than ourselves).

from MTW (Mission to the World) newsletter, December 2011

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