NIV Once-A-Day Bible for LeadersSample

Matthew 5:7

True servants are merciful. They care. They get involved. They get dirty, if necessary. They offer more than pious words. And what do they get in return? What does Christ promise? “They will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). Those who remain detached, distant, and disinterested in others will receive like treatment. But God promises that those who reach out and demonstrate mercy will, in turn, receive it. Both from other people as well as from God himself. We could paraphrase this beatitude: “O the bliss of one who identifies with and assists others in need—​who gets inside their skin so completely he sees with their eyes and thinks with their thoughts and feels with their feelings. The one who does that will find that others do the same for him when he is in need.”

Charles R. Swindoll