Well, that's easy to say, but it's hard to be the first one to extend a hand of mercy when the world wants to bite it off. True mercy requires great faith on your part. True mercy isn't simply having compassion. The dictionary defines compassion as a "deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it." Mercy is compassion, but mercy doesn't sit still and think about it. True mercy comes when we completely identify with the problems our neighbor is having, and that means getting our hands dirty. Mercy was shown by God when He came to live among us. As Jesus of Nazareth, living in a troubled time and in a troubled place, He showed us that He understood exactly what problems we face. Perhaps God could have showed us this mercy from heaven, without giving us anything to cling to, but in His love He gave us the opportunity to appreciate Him and love Him even more in the person of Jesus Christ.

Notice that mercy is conditional. The merciful shall obtain mercy, but what happens to those who don't show mercy?

Jesus explains in the next chapter (Matthew 6:14-15), "...if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

The Lord keeps the merciful safe and sound.

Psalms 41:1-3

1 Blessed [is] he that considereth the poor (the needy and the sick): the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble (in the day of evil).

2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; [and] he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

Fasting is showing mercy, and those who truly fast will truly obtain mercy.

In Isaiah 58:5-14, the Lord asks Israel...

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

6 [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

7 [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

(your own family)

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

10 And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:

11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].

It's for our own good to help others.

Proverbs 21:13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

Not only do we harm ourselves when we show no mercy, but we grieve the Spirit. Paul wrote, "...be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:32).

Lord, we understand Your mercy is conditional. Help us to remember the mercy You've shown us, that we may also be merciful.