[Gary Petty] I've been doing a series of blogs on the ucg.org website about the book of Proverbs and wisdom. In my latest blog, I begin the blog by talking about a story, a parable that Jesus told. A parable of a man who owed a king a lot of money. The king called him to him to make him pay up. And the man begged for some time, some lenience, some forgiveness. And the king out of the goodness of his heart forgives the man. The man goes out into the street and finds another man who owes him a very small amount of money, and he demands payments and throws the man in prison because he can't pay, shows him no mercy, shows him no forgiveness. At the end of the parable, Jesus says this, "So My Heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about mercy and about forgiveness. There's a number of Hebrew words that are translated mercy in the English version of our Bible.

One of them is very interesting because it has such a complex meaning that in old versions of the Bible it's translated as lovingkindness. In other words, when you show someone mercy, it's not just because you have the power to do so. You know, I'm showing you how powerful I am or how righteous I am by showing you mercy. It's because first you realize the mercy that God gave to you and secondly because you're doing it for that person and to that person out of lovingkindness. In fact, the word implies that there has to be an action of kindness involved in showing this kind of mercy. Lovingkindness. You've received it from your Father. Give it to others.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.