Show Kindness And Mercy To One Another

The word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts, and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.

Zechariah 7:8-14

As we age we tend to have hardening of the arteries. However, the prophet Zechariah warned the Israelites about hardening of the heart. They had hardened their hearts and refused to listen to the words of the Lord. They refused to execute true justice, and they failed to show mercy and compassion. As a result, the LORD became angry and stopped listening to them.

It is important to keep our hearts from becoming callous to people who are important to God: widows, orphans, aliens, and the poor.

It is crucial to follow our doctor’s order to keep our arteries from hardening. But it is even more crucial to obey God to keep our hearts from becoming hardened to the needs of others.

Ask God to bring to mind a person who needs the help of someone with a soft heart.

To love Christ is to have a heart for others.

Our Daily Bread – May 23, 2008