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The Cheerful Balm: Spiritual Gift of Mercy · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Picture the harsh fluorescent
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lights of a hospital waiting room at, say, 2 in the morning.
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Oh yeah, the smell of antiseptic.
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The cold coffee in the Styrofoam cup.
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Right. And you are just sitting next to
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someone whose entire world has just collapsed.
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When you look at human suffering, real agonizing,
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physical or spiritual affliction, the world offers a
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very specific brand of empathy. It really does.
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It usually sounds like sending positive vibes.
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Or maybe it manifests as an institutional check written to a
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charity. Yeah, we like our solutions to
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be clean, you know, clinical and distanced.
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But what happens when the affliction is within a local
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congregation? What happens when the pain is
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murky, protracted, and completely resistant to a quick
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fix? That hospital room scenario is,
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well, it's the perfect filter for what we are looking at
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today. The secular version of empathy
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is often a transaction. Right, like dropping off a
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casserole. Yeah, we want to drop off a
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casserole, offer a platitude and retreat to our comfortable
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lives. But the sources we are examining
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completely shatter that paradigm.
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Which is why we're doing this deep dive.
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Spot on. We are looking at 2 highly
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specific theological texts titled The Cheerful Balm and The
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Cheerful Mercy of the Body of Christ.
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Both of these texts perform a rigorous analysis of Romans
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chapter 12, verses 6 through 8, looking specifically at the
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spiritual gift of mercy. And they don't just treat it as
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a personality Corp. No, not at all.
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They treat this not as some optional trait that you know
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naturally sensitive people possess, but as a continuing
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supernatural endowment given by the Holy Spirit.
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So the mission of this deep dive, custom tailored for you
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listening right now, is to figure out how this specific joy
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filled trait functions as the absolute glue holding a local
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church together. OK, let's unpack this.
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We're looking at a divine provision meant to alleviate
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suffering while simultaneously pointing the afflicted person
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straight to the cross of Jesus Christ.
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Yeah, and to really grasp what the Apostle Paul's commanding in
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Romans 12, we can't just look at the theology in a vacuum.
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No, you have to smell the smoke and feel the tension of the
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environment he was writing to. We are talking about the
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historical tinderbox of Rome around AD 57.
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Right. Paul is writing this epistle
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from Corinth during his third missionary trip, and our sources
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make a very sharp distinction here regarding redemptive
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history, basically the difference between the nation of
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Israel and the New Testament church.
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Which changes everything about how care is administered.
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Doesn't. It it changes everything.
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In the Old Covenant, the nation of Israel operated with specific
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civil and ceremonial laws. If you were poor, the law
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provided institutional safety Nets.
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Like the gleaning laws in Leviticus 19.
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That is a perfect example. The law mandated that farmers
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leave the edges of their fields unhardested so the destitute
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could gather food. It was a national agrarian
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welfare system built into the Civil Code.
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But the New Testament church isn't a nation state.
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Right. It possesses no civil authority
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and no geographic borders. Instead, it operates
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organically. The institutional laws of Israel
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are replaced by the internal spirit empowered distribution of
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spiritual gifts within the local body.
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That brings us to the volatile reality of the Roman Church
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itself. The political backdrop is just
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staggering. In 1849, Emperor Claudius issued
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an edict expelling all Jews from Rome.
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Yeah, the historian Suetonius recorded that this happened
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because of constant rioting at the instigation of someone named
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Christus tribe. Which historians universally
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recognize as a botched Roman spelling of Christ, right?
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On So you have this massive expulsion.
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Jewish believers like Priscilla and Aquila are forced to pack
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their bags and flee. And during this exile, which
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lasts about five years, the Roman Church is left entirely in
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the hands of Gentile believers. Imagine the cultural shift that
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occurs in those five years. The house churches in Rome
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originated within the Jewish synagogue system.
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They had Jewish roots, Jewish customs, and an ingrained
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understanding of kosher dietary laws and Sabbath observances.
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And suddenly the Jewish leadership is gone.
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Gone. The gentiles are now steering
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the ship. They're bringing in their own
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cultural norms, eating meat that might have been sacrificed to
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idols and, you know, abandoning the strict legal observances of
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the Jewish calendar. Then, in 8054, Emperor Claudius
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dies. The edicts lapses.
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And the Jewish believers pack up and move back to Rome.
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Expecting to step right back into their old leadership roles,
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it sounds like a hostile corporate takeover, but
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reversed. How do you mean?
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Well, imagine the founders of a massive company being locked out
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of the building for five years. The young new managers take
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over, change the entire business model, get rid of the dress code
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and start running things their own way.
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Then suddenly the founders are allowed back in the building.
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They walk through the doors and a massive collision occurs.
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You have returning Jewish believers, fiercely protective
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of their heritage, clashing with Gentile believers who feel no
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obligation to observe Jewish customs.
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The friction over leadership, culture and theology must have
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been suffocating. And while they are fighting this
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internal civil war, a literal monster is ascending the throne
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outside their doors. Emperor Nero.
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Yeah, the sources note that Nero is on the horizon, preparing to
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unleash horrific persecutions, which will eventually include
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dipping Christians in pitch and burning them as human torches to
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light his garden parties. So looking at this terrifying
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external threat and this bitter internal division, I have a
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major question. Why in the world would Paul
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prescribe mercy as the solution? It seems counterintuitive,
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right? Totally.
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If I am consulting a church in that situation, I am prescribing
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strict administrative order, heavy discipline, or an
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underground survival strategy. Why Mercy?
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What's fascinating here is the absolute collision between the
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Gospel and the Roman honor culture.
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In Pagan Rome, the entire society was built on the concept
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of patronage. Like a strict hierarchical
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ladder. Very strict, the powerful
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patricians, the patrons would provide financial help, legal
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protection or food to the lower classes, known as the clients,
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but this was never genuine charity.
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It was a calculated transaction. Exactly.
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I mean, a patron helped a client to secure loyalty, to inflate
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his own public reputation, and to display his superiority.
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The clients were expected to gather at the patron's house
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every morning for the Celi Toshio, basically begging for
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scraps and singing his praises. So it is charity as APR
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campaign. You do not care about the hungry
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person, you care that the hungry person votes for you and tells
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everyone how great you are. That is precisely it.
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Public benefaction was generous, but it was dripping with pride.
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It reinforced the social hierarchy.
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And Paul looks at this Roman church, fractured by ethnic
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superiority complexes, with the Jewish believers judging the
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Gentiles and Gentile believers despising the Jews, and he
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strikes at the root of their pride.
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Right. His call to humble, cheerful
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mercy directly dismantles the patronage system.
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When a Jewish believer Stoops down to bandage the wounds of a
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sick gentile, expecting zero public applause and no political
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favor in return, it shatters the Roman hierarchy.
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It requires a total crucifixion of the ego.
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It really does. This moves us into the literary
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structure of the letter itself, because Paul doesn't just drop
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these commands out of Sinner. Knowing the volatile setting
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explains the target of his letter, but understanding the
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structure of his argument reveals the actual mechanics of
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Christian behavior. Yeah, the text highlight that
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the book of Romans is the most systematic.
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Like theological treatise in the biblical Canon, Paul spends the
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1st 11 chapters laying down the massive, heavy indicatives of
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the gospel. And the sources are explicit
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about these doctrines, right? They list out the total
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depravity of humanity, unconditional election,
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justification by faith alone, and the sovereign preservation
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of the Saints. He builds this towering
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theological edifice and then we hit chapter 12, verse one, which
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acts as a monumental hinge. I appeal to you, therefore,
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brothers, by the mercies of God. So the argument is clear.
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Right doctrine must produce right practice.
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The texts I knew that isolating the practical action of mercy
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from the doctrine of substitutionary atonement
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creates a fatal misunderstanding of charity.
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Right, they have to be linked. But let me challenge that
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premise for a second. We are looking at a system of
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theology that champions God's absolute sovereignty.
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If human beings are totally depraved, meaning they're
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completely dead in sin and incapable of choosing God, and
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if God's grace is entirely sovereign and saving whom he
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chooses unconditionally, why bother mandating a list of
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commands? That's a huge question.
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Doesn't a system of sovereign grace render human effort
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obsolete? Why command a dead person to
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show mercy? That is the classic objection,
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and the sources resolve it by clarifying the mechanical
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relationship between the indicative and the imperative.
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The indicative being the statement of fact.
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Right. What God has already done.
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The imperative is the command what the believer must do.
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Total depravity does mean that a human being in their natural
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state is entirely incapable of producing genuine God honoring
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mercy. So natural philanthropy exists,
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but it's flawed. It is always tainted by
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self-interest or desire to earn karma or favor.
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However, when God sovereignly saves a person when He justifies
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them by faith alone and regenerates their dead heart, He
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fundamentally alters their nature.
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So the command is given to a new creation, not a dead corpse.
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Spot on. Because believers have received
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the saving mercies of God, their justification, their adoption,
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their deliverance from the wrath of God, presenting their bodies
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as living sacrifices is the only logical, rash response.
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The sovereign mercy of God actually creates merciful
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people. It does.
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It does not breed a lazy passivity.
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The theology of Romans one through 11 is the fuel inside
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the combustion engine. The ethical commands of Romans
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12 are the wheels turning. If you separate the command to
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show mercy from the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
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you end up with a crushing moralism.
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You get a workspace religion where people try to earn God's
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love by volunteering at a soup kitchen.
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Paul roots the imperative to act firmly in the bedrock of the
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grace they have already received.
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You do not show mercy to get saved.
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You show mercy because you are saved.
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That makes a lot of sense. With that massive theological
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engine established, the texts move into how these actions are
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distributed across the individuals in the congregation.
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Romans 12.3 commands every believer to exercise sober
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self-assessment, grounding that assessment in the specific
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measure of faith assigned by God.
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And then Paul uses an anatomical analogy in verses four and five.
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He says the church is 1 body with many members and those
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members do not all have the same function.
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No, my mind immediately goes to biology.
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Think of the human immune system.
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You have white blood cells, macrophages, T cells.
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OK, I see where you're going. A macrophage has a very specific
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job. It finds foreign pathogens and
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literally swallows them. It does not try to be a neuron.
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It did not try to pump blood like the heart.
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If every cell in your body tried to be a neuron, the Organism
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would die instantly. It's a great analogy, the
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sources argue. This structural pivot completely
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destroys the egalitarian myth that all believers are equipped
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for identical roles. The vocabulary Paul uses is
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highly specific too. Yeah.
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He calls these functions charismata, which translates
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directly as grace endowments. The root is cheris, meaning
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grace. The sources stress that this
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completely refutes the Armenian view of human autonomy.
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Meaning you can't just earn a gift.
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Right. You do not get a spiritual gift
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because you willed yourself into having it, or because you
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studied hard enough, or because you possess superior spiritual
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discipline. Yeah, the Holy Spirit
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distributes these gifts sovereignly.
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They are unearned. This strips away any ground for
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boasting. If you are gifted in showing
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mercy, you cannot hold that over the head of someone who isn't
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because you did not earn it. This anatomical structure really
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exposes glaring flaws in how modern churches operate.
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Think about the cultural exectation we place on the
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modern pastor. The sources confront this
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directly, taking aim at the celebrity pastor model.
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In many modern contexts, A congregation expects one man
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standing behind a pulpit to possess every single gift
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perfectly. He is supposed to be a flawless
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teacher, a visionary leader, a meticulous administrator and the
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most compassionate counselor who visits every hospital bed.
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But Paul's anatomical analogy says that expectation is a
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deformity. The eye cannot do the work of
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the hand. The teacher needs the person
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endowed with the gift of mercy, and the merciful person needs
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the teacher. This structure forces mutual
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dependence. It kills the isolation of the
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superstar leader. It really does.
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It levels the playing field. OK, so within this
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interdependent, beautifully diverse body, Paul gives a
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specific list of these charismata.
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He lists prophecy, teaching and exhortation.
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The texts group these together as the speaking gifts, which are
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designed to establish and proclaim truth.
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Then we move into the practical gifts, giving, leading, and
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finally mercy. Syntactically, mercy sits at the
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very end of the list. The texts describe the specific
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placement as the ultimate safety net of the local church.
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Think about the sequence. The teacher stands up and
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delivers the hard truth of Scripture.
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The exhorter challenges the congregation to apply it.
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But after the sermon ends and the lights go down, there are
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still people sitting in the pews whose lives are completely
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falling apart. Yeah, they're weeping.
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They're facing a terrifying diagnosis or they are crushed by
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depression. The speaking gifts establish the
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truth, but the gift of mercy is the safety net that catches the
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broken people who cannot just be fixed by a good lecture.
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This is where the theological stance of the sources becomes
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very apparent. The texts operate from a
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strictly cessationist viewpoint. Right Cessationism argues that
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the foundational sign gifts, things like Apostolic healing,
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the raising of the dead, and speaking in unlearned tongues,
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were given specifically to authenticate the apostles and
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establish the early Church. And that these sign gifts ceased
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with the closing of the biblical Canon.
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However, normal continuing gifts like teaching, leading, and
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mercy remain fully active and essential today.
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I. Have to stop you there, because
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this cessationist claim invites massive pushback.
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Let's hear. If I am sitting in that hospital
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room we talked about at the beginning and I have late stage
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pancreatic cancer and you tell me the gift of healing has
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ceased, well what am I left with?
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Am I just left with a very nice sympathetic person holding my
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hand while I die? Yeah.
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Does cessationism just reduce the Church to offering a
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theological consolation prize because we lost the capacity to
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actually cure people? That is a phenomenal question.
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The sources addressed this by looking at the normative
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experience of the Christian life in the present age.
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They explicitly reject ideologies like the prosperity
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gospel. Which claims that God's
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immediate will is always physical health and financial
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abundance for every believer. Right.
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The authors argue that if believers were always guaranteed
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physical healing and wealth, the spiritual gift of mercy would be
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entirely obsolete. Why would the Holy Spirit
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permanently endow the Church with a gift specifically
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designed to comfort suffering if suffering was an anomaly?
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Oh wow. That makes sense.
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The very existence of the gift proves the guarantee of the
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suffering. That is right.
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The fact that mercy is a continuing charisma prove that
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believers will face cancer, they will face poverty, and they will
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face severe mental anguish. So the cessationist argument
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here is not that God lacks strength, it is that the
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supernatural element in the present age has shifted.
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The miracle is no longer an apostle walking into a room and
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clearing out the cancer ward. The supernatural element is the
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spirit rock capacity of a fellow Sinner to wade into that human
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misery, to sit in the stench of death, and to do so with an
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inexplicable gladness. Here's where it gets really
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interesting. This brings us to the exact
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phrasing Paul uses, and it radically alters how we view
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compassion. Yeah, let's look at the Greek.
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The Greek phrase in Romans 12.8 is ho Elin and which translates
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to the one who shows mercy with cheerfulness.
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The texts do a fascinating lexicographical breakdown.
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Here the verb for showing mercy, iliash, traces back to the Old
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Testament Septuagint. It is the Greek equivalent of
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the Hebrew word cheesed. Which speaks of a fierce
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covenantal loving kindness and unbreakable loyalty.
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Right. It also overlaps with the Hebrew
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word rashom, which describes A visceral, gut level compassion.
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The root of rashim is actually the word for a mother's womb, so
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this is not a sterile, cold administrative charity.
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But the real weight falls on the prepositional phrase in Hilo
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Rothetti. Hilo rash is a remarkably rare
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word. It only occurs this one time in
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the entire New Testament. It means joyousness, a glad
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readiness of mind, or a cheerful prominence.
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It is literally the root of our English word.
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Hilarious. Oh, wow.
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Yeah, when you look at Greco Roman literature from that
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period, this word was used to describe the bright, beaming
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face of a generous benefactor is the opposite of reluctance.
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The sources point out the words Paul deliberately avoided too.
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He did not tell the Romans to show mercy with Carteria.
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Carteria meaning stoic endurance.
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Right. It means grinning and bearing
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it, he did not say. Well, when you change the bedpan
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of a dying St., just grit your teeth, hold your breath and get
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the job done. The syntactic choice of Hilla
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roadies is brilliant, and the authors argue it acts as a
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divine guardrail against caregiver burnout.
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Anyone who has spent months or years caring for a chronically
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I'll parent or a severely disabled child knows the
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crushing weight of that duty human patients always runs out.
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It is absolutely impossible to manufacturer Hilla roadies
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through sheer willpower. You cannot fake a beaming,
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joyous disposition for years on end.
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It is not the artificial smile of a customer service
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representative dealing with a hostile client.
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A fake smile eventually turns into a grimace.
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It always does. The grammar here proves that the
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Holy Spirit must supernaturally alter the internal disposition
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of the caregiver. Without the Spirit, mercy
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eventually becomes a heavy, exasperated sigh.
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And think about the psychological impact on the
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person receiving care. When you help someone, but your
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body language communicates that they are a massive burden, you
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crush their dignity. You make them feel like a
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nuisance. Cheerful Mercy, on the other
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hand, honors the recipient. It communicates I am genuinely
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glad to minister to you. You are not an interruption to
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my life. You are a fellow heir of grace
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that. Atmosphere of radiant joy is
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entirely dependent on the continuous supply of the Holy
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Spirit by defining. Biblical mercy with such
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surgical precision, the sources naturally draw sharp lines
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against modern counterfeits. Now it is.
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Crucial that we look at how the texts interact with current
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cultural frameworks. Both sources explicitly push
18:44
back against ideologies like the social Gospel and Critical race
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theory, according to the. Authors of our provided
18:50
material, and we're just outlining their claims here.
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These modern systems attempt to redefine mercy in terms of
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political upheaval, systemic wealth redistribution, and
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intersectional grievance. The sources.
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Argue that true biblical mercy refuses to view human beings
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just as members of oppressed or oppressor classes based on their
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skin color or economic status. Right, they say.
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That views every human being as an eternal soul in desperate
19:16
need of the gospel. Furthermore, the texts
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forcefully reject the modern impulse to outsource the care of
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souls entirely to secular psychology or pragmatic church
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growth programs. But I want to.
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Press on this we live in an age with massive social safety Nets,
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government welfare programs and easily accessible mental health
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clinics. We do.
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Yet the. Sources claim the local church
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remains the primary venue for this care.
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How do they justify bypassing highly trained secular
19:44
professionals if we connect? This to the bigger picture, the
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authors argue, it all comes down to how you diagnose the human
19:50
condition the sources believe that secular institutions
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operate on entirely temporal and therapeutic assumptions, meaning
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they only. Look at the here and now
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exactly. A secular clinic can offer
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tremendous common grace benefits.
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It can provide coping mechanisms for trauma, prescribed
20:06
medication for a chemical imbalance, or offer financial
20:09
assistance. But the authors argue that these
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secular systems treat man's biggest problem as pain rather
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than rebellion against the holy God.
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Therefore. They offer temporal fixes
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completely devoid of the saving gospel.
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They treat the. Symptom, but they ignore the
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underlying terminal disease. That's a strong.
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Claim For the authors, true mercy must address the eternal
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state of the soul alongside physical comfort providing a man
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with a warm bed and a hot meal is a good thing, but if he dies
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rejecting Christ, the sources argue that temporal comfort
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means nothing in light of eternity a secular.
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Clinic cannot offer reconciliation with the Creator,
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which the texts view as the ultimate crisis facing humanity.
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Therefore, the local church is indispensable.
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It does not just. Minister physical comfort.
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It ministers the comfort of Scripture, the call to
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repentance, and the hope of eternal life, which the state
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simply has no jurisdiction or ability to provide.
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The reason the. Sources insist on marrying mercy
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so tightly to the gospel is because they view Jesus Christ
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as the absolute origin, point and pattern of this trait Christ
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is. The merciful high priest.
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The texts point to another incredible Greek word used in
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the Gospels, Black Nizomi. That's a mouthful.
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It is. This describes Jesus being moved
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with compassion when he saw the harassed and helpless crowds.
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But it is not a cerebral pity. The word literally refers to the
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bowels, the internal organs. It means his.
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Gut wrenched with physical pain over their suffering, we see
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him. Touching lepers, feeding
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thousands of hungry people, and weeping outside the tomb of
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Lazarus. Yet the text point out a
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critical caveat. Jesus showed immense compassion,
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but he never affirmed human sin or compromised divine holiness,
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according to the. Sources The greatest tragedy in
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the universe is not temporal poverty, it is total depravity
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and human rightful condemnation under the holy wrath of God this
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is where the. Doctrine of penal
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substitutionary atonement becomes the anchor of everything
22:04
we are discussing at the cross. Perfect divine justice and
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perfect Divine Mercy collide. God does not just sweep sin
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under the rug. That would be unjust.
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Instead, Christ acts as the substitute.
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He absorbs the full penalty of God's holy wrath against sin
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because the. Demands of justice were fully
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satisfied in the death of Christ.
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God is now free to let His mercy flow to the elect.
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Think about it like. A staggering financial debt.
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If someone owes a billion dollars, you cannot just tell
22:31
the bank to ignore it. Justice demands payment if you
22:34
want to show. Mercy to the debtor.
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You have to drain your own bank account to pay the sum at the.
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Cross Christ drains the infinite account of his own life to pay
22:43
the debt of human rebellion. You cannot pay another person's
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debt if you are entirely bankrupt yourself.
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Human mercy. Is bankrupt.
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We can only show mercy to others because Christ cleared our
22:53
bankruptcy with his own blood that financial.
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Analogy perfectly illustrates why Paul's command in Romans 12
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does not crush us. Without the cross, Romans 12.8
23:03
is just a terrifying impossible law if a pastor.
23:06
Stands up and preaches. You know you need to try harder
23:08
to be cheerful while caring for sick people.
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The listener is left in absolute despair.
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Human willpower cannot achieve it, but the gospel.
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Announces that Christ died for the Unmerciful.
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He bore the wrath for our cold, selfish, transactional hearts,
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and because he rose from the dead, he now gives his Holy
23:27
Spirit to conform believers to his image.
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This makes. Glad obedience entirely
23:32
possible. We do not manufacture mercy out
23:34
of thin air. We reflect the mercy already
23:37
shown in the Incarnate, crucified and risen Christ.
23:40
He entered. Our misery without adopting our
23:43
sin. And that becomes the exact
23:45
template for how a believer engages with the suffering
23:47
world, with all that. Massive Theological and
23:50
historical Foundation laid the texts issue a very urgent call
23:54
to action for the local congregation living in the
23:56
present day. They back this up with
23:58
staggering statistics regarding the vast harvest of suffering
24:01
right outside our doors. They cite the. 37.9 million
24:05
Americans are living below the poverty line, and one in five US
24:08
adults experience some form of mental illness every single
24:11
year. The sheer.
24:12
Volume of the need is overwhelming as the sources
24:15
apply this practically. They champion a concept they
24:18
call complementarian beauty. They state that while the
24:22
authoritative office of Elder is strictly reserved for qualified
24:25
men, the spiritual gift of mercy is poured out lavishly upon both
24:29
men and women across the entire congregation.
24:32
The texts. Specifically, pause to praise
24:35
the faithful, often invisible sisters in the church who
24:39
tirelessly prepare meals, visit shut insurance, and sit with the
24:42
grieving the authors. Call this the tender critical
24:45
care that keeps the body knit together, proving that the most
24:49
vital organs of a body are usually the ones you never see
24:51
on a stage. Finally.
24:53
The sources lift our eyes to the eschatological horizon.
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They operate from a premillennial perspective,
24:59
maintaining that the imminent tribulational rapture of the
25:02
Church draws near, which will be.
25:04
Followed by Christ's millennial reign, where disease and death
25:06
are finally eradicated and every tear is wiped away.
25:09
Until that moment, the Church remains wandering in the
25:12
wilderness, facing the brutal realities of cancer, bereavement
25:16
and betrayal. But I have to.
25:17
Ask about this specific timeline.
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The sources stress a pre millennial, pre tribulational
25:23
rapture. How does holding to a specific
25:26
sequence of end times events actually change the posture of
25:29
someone sitting in a dreary hospital room this afternoon?
25:32
This raises. An interesting question
25:34
regarding the psychological utility of biblical prophecy.
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The text clarify that this specific future hope provides
25:41
the necessary stamina for present cheerfulness, if you
25:45
believe. That the current state of
25:46
suffering is permanent, or if you believe human history is
25:49
just a meaningless cycle of tragedy, you will eventually
25:52
burn out and despair, right? But the.
25:54
Eschatological reality provides A definitive expiration date for
25:57
suffering. When a believer exercises the
26:00
gift of mercy, they're glad Spirit communicates a deep truth
26:03
to the sufferer. This hospital bed is not your
26:06
final destination. It is just a.
26:08
Waiting room precisely. The sufferer is recognized as a
26:11
fellow heir waiting for a guaranteed pain free eternity.
26:15
The caregiver can maintain Hellerado is that beaming joy
26:18
even while changing bandages or sitting in a chemotherapy ward
26:22
because they know that Christ will literally physically return
26:25
to rescue to this church from wrath and establish a Kingdom
26:28
where tumors do not exist. The knowledge.
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That the current suffering is light and momentary compared to
26:33
the eternal weight of glory prevents despair.
26:37
The future reality of the Kingdom fuels the present
26:39
compassion in the wilderness. So what does this?
26:41
All mean for us today. Well, we have.
26:43
Tracked a massive progression. We started in a fractured,
26:46
volatile Roman church. Facing the terror of Nero's
26:49
human torches and the friction of returning exiles, we moved.
26:53
To the deep systematic mechanics of sovereign grace, total
26:56
depravity, and substitutionary atonement.
26:58
And we finally. Arrived at the bright, cheerful
27:00
reality of Christ centered compassion, distributed
27:03
sovereignly by the Holy Spirit to the local church.
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This. Parenthesis of these texts
27:08
forces every single listener to evaluate the culture of their
27:11
own local congregation. Do we prize the articulate
27:15
platform speakers, the visible leaders and the highly polished
27:18
programs while completely ignoring the hidden Saints who
27:22
are quietly bringing nails to the grieving and sitting
27:25
patiently with the depressed? The sources.
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Make it undeniably clear Orthodox theology must manifest
27:31
as gracious, cheerful action toward the afflicted.
27:34
If you have the theology without the mercy, you have missed the
27:37
entire point of Romans 12. You really?
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Have I want to leave you? With a final concept to Mull
27:42
over as you step back into your day, consider the most
27:45
difficult, draining person in your life right now.
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You know exactly who I am talking about.
27:50
The person who's suffering feels like a constant, heavy demand on
27:53
your time, your patience, and your energy.
27:55
We all have someone. Like that we do what?
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Would it look like tomorrow to approach their misery not with a
28:00
heavy sigh of obligation, not with a forced stoic smile, but
28:04
with the the radiant, inexplicable joy of someone who
28:07
has just been fully pardoned from a death sentence?
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Thank you for joining this deep dive on reformed thinking.