There’s an old saying: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” The idea is that children tend to take after their parents. But this isn’t just in terms of physical resemblance. We learn character from our family of origin. We learn how to relate to other people. It’s amazing how, even if we don’t realise it, we find ourselves echoing the attitudes and approaches of our forebears.
These days, I find myself speaking to Daniel about how we do or don’t do things in our family, saying things like, “In our family, we try and be kind.” If we belong to Jesus, we have been adopted into the family of God! And right now, we are learning the sorts of things that we do or don’t do as part of His family. Those are based on who God is, and what His character is like. Over time, we’re picking up the family traits of being part of God’s people, as God transforms us to be more and more like Jesus.
For the next few weeks, we’re going to be looking at the ways that God describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, and seeing how these traits can be expressed by you and I. This weekend, we’re looking at what it means for Yahweh to be “the God of compassion and mercy!” What does it mean for God to show mercy, and who should be the recipients of that?
And who should we, as God’s children, shown mercy to? Or is it the “sin of empathy,” as one supposedly Christian commentator put it last week, to show mercy to others?
Today’s text: Jonah 3-4
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