No Mercy

Over a week ago, I constructed an entire post about our new church, Cross Church in Fayetteville. I chose not to post it because I never quite put my finishing touches on it, and it was too detailed to be even remotely entertaining. To sum it up, though, I adore this church. We moved up here and immediately began attending this church. In Little Rock, it was at least 7 months before we found a church home, and even then, we knew it was only temporary and that we'd be moving.
Just a few more details--I feel like we started at the right time because I have always feared the end times (partly from growing up AG, I'm certain), but it was amazing to hear it preached in such a straight-forward, well-articulated manner. They did an entire series on the topic. I love our pastor(s). I particularly love Nick Floyd's straight-forwardness.

Moving on, because that has basically nothing to do with this post. Entertaining, this will not be; important, yes.

No Mercy:
 Long story short, our pastor preached about the beatitudes on Sunday, and I knew before I ever listened that I needed to work on showing mercy instead of being hard on others. Showing mercy isn't particularly the issue. The issue is that I have a hard time piecing together this puzzle of mercy and truth. You see, I totally believe in biblical correction. If you are a proclaimed Christian and I happen to know you, I'm fairly quick to ...let's say redirect you.

But is that wrong? Should I just endlessly forgive and be patient and accepting? (Yes, yes, I know...but just listen.)

I feel as though it would be a sin for me to watch one suffer and falter, and the last thing I want to do is give them a pat on the back and just keep "encouraging" them. I know that sounds awful, but I feel like too many people do that, and far too few will actually try to correct and redirect. I would never want to kick somebody while they're down, so to speak, or turn somebody away from Christ. It's not like that at all. That's not even the topic at hand, ok? What I'm talking about is far past that point.

I recently heard a sermon titled something along the lines of "What Kind of Friend are You?" Truth be told, I can't remember if it was in Little Rock or Fayetteville, but I remember leaving and boastfully saying, "I'm the truthful friend! That's what we're supposed to be!" But all that glitters isn't gold. 

I am surely making myself sound horrible, but if you know me, I think you'd see that I do extend grace and mercy. Sometimes I just don't want to, and I don't think that's out of stubbornness or failure to submit. I think it's because I truly believe there is a time to get real. A time to get serious and to quit messing around. The Bible talks about mercy, but it also talks about correction.

So at what point should correction override mercy? How do the two fit together?

I'm frustrated at the moment because this isn't coming out as I had hoped. It's incredibly difficult to articulate this, for some reason, but I have struggled with balancing the two for quite some time.

Hmm. I'll leave it at that. :)

P.S. I miss my hair stylist in Little Rock so badly that I've refused to go elsewhere ever since we moved. I got desperate, though, and randomly googled a bunch of places...then equally randomly called a salon and said "anyone who is good with long hair." On my way there today, not having a clue what to expect, I decided I would try to work up the courage to give my new stylist a Cross Church card with the service times. But I didn't have to. I immediately found out from her that she goes to Cross Church and even serves there. I was impressed! What are the odds?