The God Impulse By Jack AlexanderSample

Day Four

Giving Of Ourselves

Scripture: Isaiah 58:6–11

The God Impulse isn’t natural to us. If God’s first impulse is to wrap us in his arms no matter how unlovable and untouchable we may seem, our first impulse is to wrap our hands into fists and start pounding at whatever might get in our way. 

When someone hurts us, we want to hurt them back. When someone makes us uncomfortable, we want to get away from that discomfort as quickly as possible. Like the priest and Levite in the Good Samaritan parable, we’re inclined to cross to the other side of the street. 

Our world tells us to get stuff for ourselves, not give of ourselves. In fact, showing mercy is often seen as weakness. Feed the poor? They should work for a living, we think. Care for the widows? Who has time for that? We’re obsessed with getting and keeping what’s ours. Everybody else can fend for themselves. 

We’re a selfish people, and it seems as though we’re getting more so all the time. The business world—the world I’m most familiar with—can be particularly unmerciful. It’s predicated on a far more Darwinian “survival of the fittest” mode of operation than of anything predicated on God’s curious calculus. 

And yet I think that even in the business world, we find elements that can illustrate mercy and help us better show mercy to others. Because here’s the crazy thing about mercy: it’s not just the right course of action, it’s often the smart course of action. 

To be truly merciful, we have to be willing to look someone in the eye. To kneel down beside him. To get to know them. To hold them. We need to hear their story. When we’re willing to do that, we may discover (to our shock) that folks seemingly “undeserving” of our mercy deserve it much more than we think. 

I’m amazed how often we don’t take the time to listen to other people and try to understand what’s really going on in their lives. And I’m surprised at myself sometimes, because I can be as guilty of this as anyone. We try not to involve ourselves.

But showing mercy opens doors that would otherwise stay sealed shut. Mercy precipitates actions that would be inconceivable without it. Mercy feeds on itself, and in so doing, it has the power to feed the world. 

Why does one merciful act lead to another?