Merciful
Intro
God is merciful, which means he is full of mercy! Mercy means goodness toward those who are sad and suffering. Mercy is like the action part of compassion. With God they go together. He has mercy because he is compassionate.
Bible Bit
Read Luke 10 verses 29 to 37. This is the story of the Good Samaritan. The first two saw the problem but did not show mercy. They didn’t help!! Being merciful is not just about understanding and feeling what someone is going through but caring enough to do something. It has to be put into action.
Friends Challenge
Sometimes if people are upset all they need is someone to show they care and to understand them. God may ask you to tell them he cares and to pray with or for them – this is a lovely thing to do for someone who is upset and can bring God’s peace to them.
Mercy Ideas
Write on a piece of paper, as many different ways as you can think of, of how you could follow what God says and be merciful…
- Starving people you see on TV?
- Another child in the playground who is all alone and doesn’t have any friends?
- Someone on the street begging for food?
- Someone in your family when they seem upset?
- Someone being picked on at school?
- The old lady next door?
- Your Mum when she’s really tired?
Mercy Challenge
Here’s a challenge for you - next time you see someone upset or having a bad time, will you ask God how you can help them, then do it?
Email Challenge
If you’ve been merciful to someone recently, or in the next week or so I’d love to hear how you showed it!
Fun Challenge
There are quite a few words that end in ‘ful’, which mean full of whatever comes before the ’ful’! For example, ‘beautiful’ means full of beauty, like merciful means full of mercy.
For a bit of fun see if you and your friends can make up a really funny and encouraging word of your own ending in ‘ful’ that means full of whatever comes before the ‘ful’ and that describes what you are like! E.g. Wine Gumful!!!