Week 4 Day 2

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Acts of Mercy

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Romans 15:1

When weaker Christians we despise,

We do the great Redeemer wrong;

For God, the gracious and the wise,

Receives the feeble with the strong.

Secretary of State Leonard Swett once told a story about Abraham Lincoln’s sympathetic and caring personality. “I remember one day being in his room when Lincoln was sitting at his table with a large pile of papers before him, and after a pleasant talk he turned quite abruptly and said: ‘Get out of the way, Swett; tomorrow is butcher-day, and I must go through these papers and see if I cannot find some excuse to let these poor fellows off.’” The pile of papers he had were the records of court martials of men who on the following day were to be shot. Instead of doing the easy thing—just signing the papers—Lincoln was prepared to sift through each one, to find ways to save the lives of as many as possible. Do you work at being merciful, or is it something that just happens every once in a while? Lincoln worked at it, because he knew if he didn’t, nobody else would.