“You go, and do likewise.”
A pencil is wood, graphite, and clay. It is a simple instrument, ordinary in every way. Put it in "the master's hand" and that pencil creates a da Vinci sketch, a Hemingway novel, or an Edison bright idea! The master makes the difference.
Mother Teresa illustrate this truth. Summing up her life, the diminutive but powerful woman said:
“That is what I am, God’s pencil. A tiny bit of pencil with which He writes what He likes.”
God took that ordinary pencil and wrote a Nobel Peace Prize story. On one occasion, Mother Teresa addressed a group of diplomats whom she held spellbound. In a matter-of-fact tone she said:
“There was the man we picked up from the drain, half-eaten by worms, and after we brought him home, he only said, ‘I have lived like an animal in the street, but I’m going to die as an angel, loved and cared for.’ Then when we had removed all the worms from his body, all he said—with a big smile—was: ‘Sister, I am going home to God.’ And he died.”
The woman from Calcutta lived the lesson of the Good Samaritan. Do you remember Jesus' punch line? After he finished telling about the “bad man” who did good, Jesus had a question for the teacher of the law standing nearby:
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" [The lawyer] said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." Luke 10:36-37 ESV
“You go, and do likewise.” That is Jesus’ call to show mercy!
Jesus calls his followers to give mercy to the difficult person at work, to the irritable jerk on the highway, to the down-and-out, the up-and-out, the little brat, the cranky parent, the tired spouse, the discouraged child, and the thousand unknowns we encounter along the highways of life.
Mercy brings goodness to those in need, even to those who bring the trouble on themselves — that’s what makes it mercy!
God wants to write messages of mercy today. Is your pencil sharpened?
For more on the amazing pencil visit www.pencils.com (Learning).