Practicing mercy in a merciless culture

by Tan Sin Guan

Are acts of mercy relevant in the marketplace? Often, we relate acts of mercy with philanthropy, refugee relief work and community service, but are they practical and is it realistic to expect them in a "dog eat dog" culture? Many who have been in the marketplace would agree, to some extent, with the Chinese saying, "to be merciful to your enemy is to be cruel to yourself". A manager puts it bluntly, "The marketplace is merciless to the merciful."

To begin with, God did not command us to just do acts of mercy. He commanded us to love mercy. What God expects of His people is clearly stated in Micah 6:6-8: "With what shall I come before the LORD and bow before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (NIV, italics mine.) This command is a reminder to us because we could be doing acts of mercy without really loving mercy. To do acts of mercy may mean responding as and when the opportunity arises. To love mercy, however, is to live out mercy as a way of life.

Biblically, mercy is doing good motivated by love. It is putting love into action. An author puts it interestingly: "Mercy or kindness is empathy with legs. If empathy is feeling for others, feeling their pain and suffering or heartache, mercy is taking the action on their behalf. It is doing something positive to someone out of a heartfelt compassion though one has no obligation or requirement to do so." Biblical mercy calls for us to go beyond a recipient’s response. Jesus’ teaching on love is to show it even to the enemy. Mercy is then doing good to someone even if it means self-sacrifice on our part. Although the saying "to be merciful to your enemy is to be cruel to yourself" does make some sense, it is nevertheless unbiblical and a form of deception. According to another author: "To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine."

Academic definition aside, God went beyond theorizing about mercy when He demonstrated it through Jesus. Paul said in Ephesians 2:3-5, "All of us lived… gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature the objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions." God showed his mercy, not with empty promises, but by giving us His son. We chose to disobey Him and became objects of His wrath. Yet God demonstrated His love toward us by extending His mercy when He restored us to Himself even at the cost of His only Son, Jesus Christ. God felt our pain and misery but He went one step further by initiating salvation for us. 1 Peter 2:10 says: "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." Scripture says God is the Father of mercies (2 Corinthians 1:3) and as such, being the recipients of God’s mercy and children of a merciful Father, to be merciless is a total denial of God — whether we are in the marketplace or not.

We may not be part of any refugee relief work or rescue operation, but living out a lifestyle of mercy in the marketplace is certainly possible. First of all, we could cultivate the lifestyle by praying for our colleagues, superiors and company. Regardless of their position and responsibilities, these people would definitely have their own struggles at work and at home. More importantly, some of them are ignorant of God’s gift of salvation for them. Many who adopt this lifestyle have had the privilege of seeing God work in their colleagues’ lives and even the general culture of their workplace.

In addition, we could also cultivate the lifestyle of mercy by refraining from taking advantage of others. Micah 2:1-2 says: "Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance." These two verses were directed at the rich and those in authority, who controlled the economy and society. With their position and power, they plotted evil — to seize fields and houses. Plotting evil could refer to get-rich schemes, whereby in order to get rich and fulfill their personal ambitions, they exploit and take advantage of the poor and powerless. It is similar to our modern-day mentality: "Why should I be bothered with how they feel or suffer or why should I care whether their family will survive or not, so long as I get my job done?" Instead of loving mercy, these people are merciless.

We may not be seizing people’s fields or homes but there could be a possibility that to achieve our company’s goals or our own ambitions, we exploit our employees and colleagues by delaying the payment of their salaries, making them work long hours or even retrenching them needlessly. We may take advantage of our customers by short-changing them or engage in various forms of deceptions such as manipulating the stock and currency markets, releasing false information or holding fraudulent lucky draws. The truth is, it is still possible for Christians to engage in many acts of mercy and yet, at the same time practice the above. They do acts of mercy, but do not love mercy.

Another area in which we could practice mercy is to administer justice faithfully. Micah 3:1-3 says: "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?" These verses were directed at those who were in authority, entrusted with the responsibility of administering justice. In today’s context, it could well refer to government officials, directors, managers, supervisors and even church leaders. 

In this passage, those in authority deliberately perverted justice. God gave a vivid description of the pain of those who were denied justice — it was like having their skin torn off and their bones broken. Indeed, the pain of suffering injustice not only cuts through our skin or flesh, it goes straight to the heart — the psychological and emotional part. Living a lifestyle of mercy calls for those who are entrusted with authority to administer justice faithfully. However, that would be possible only if they have felt the pain of injustice themselves.

For application, consider the following: Have we failed to reward a person when he should be rewarded? Have we neglected to discipline those who should be disciplined? Have we sacrificed the innocent instead of the guilty because of office politics? Have we delayed paying our workers their wages? Have we been giving our best to the company? Not giving our best is also an injustice.

Recently, the nation was shocked and appalled at the physical abuse inflicted on Nirmala Bonat, a 19-year-old Indonesian maid, by her employer. The Star newspaper said readers jammed its telephone lines to express their revulsion and it received about 800 e-mails on the subject. It is indeed heartwarming to see how the public expressed compassion and support for the victim. But God’s desire for His people is more than expressing their support or opinion. It is to live out a lifestyle of mercy moment by moment. Again, God commanded us to love mercy, not just do acts of mercy.

Tan Sin Guan is director of Malaysia Campus Crusade for Christ’s Impact! ministry. He is also an associate pastor of Klang Chinese Methodist Church.