How I understand Mercy from a Biblical Perspective

[jennifer_bloom]

Today I judged a Christian missionary operating in Africa because she wanted to leave her humanitarian charity for 2 months to fly to Canada to recover from a car crash and I thought it would take over $7,000 in donations to cover her air fare which would be enough money to give clean drinking water to 250 people in Africa for 20 years and I wondered why she wasted so much money on extra costs, I saw her eat at restaurants over 3 times in one night when she was doing PR work to fund her charity, and I would never waste that kind of money, if it was charity dollars.

I considered condemning her for wasting money but then God told me to be merciful and understand not everybody operates by the same stringency that I do. Like I avoid wasting things, because I know people in Africa are hungry and I will cut up my plastic cartons so they take up less space in my garbage bag so that I can save 2 pennies a weak on garbage bags and I will eat popsicles I do not like if I paid for them and I never throw out coffee, even if it tastes bad like the instant coffee brand.

But I believe mercy is about understanding others do not function by the same standards that you do, and that people deserve inclusion and love, even if they have flaws, just like I do when I have flaws.