Mercy and Truth
“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.” – Proverbs 3:3-4 NKJV
What an odd couple mercy and truth are. I’ve grown up in the south all my life. There are so many things I love about the south: the food, the weather, the hospitality, and the people. One of things I’ve struggled with, at times, is that the southerners can be nice to each other’s face and yet talk about people behind their back.
“Bless your heart” is not a term of endearment but a polite way of passing judment in the south. Recently, Lauren and I had a friend point out the difference between being nice and being kind. Kindness is deeply connected to truth. Being nice is often absent of truth.
We all have people in our lives that tell us what we want to hear, usually with good intentions. They don’t want to rock the boat or cause tension. The problem with this is that we all have blind spots, which is why we need people who love us enough to speak the truth. Not what we want to hear but what we need to hear.
That’s why I love this passage. Mercy and truth are brothers, not adversaries. I can be merciful and truthful at the same time. There is no greater example of this than Jesus. He operated in such mercy and grace, yet He was full of truth.
While Jesus showed us a perfect balance, I've noticed myself leaning too far in one direction over the years. As I’ve gotten older, I have become more blunt and to the point. Some of that can be good, but I also have sensed the Holy Spirit touching my lack of mercy. I think the years of ministry have, in some ways, jaded me. After seeing the same things over and over again, I’ve become less merciful and more judgmental.
In reference to Jesus, John says …
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 NKJV
Mercy in the Old Testament and Grace in the New Testament are almost interchangeable, both flowing from the heart of God. Jesus is full of grace and truth, embodying both perfectly. It’s no wonder He lived out what the writer of Proverbs described: truth and mercy, not just spoken but worn like a necklace, ever present, guiding every word and action.
It’s interesting to consider that, in our human understanding, it seems impossible to be completely full of two things at once. We tend to think in terms of balance or mixture: part grace, part truth. But when you study the Greek, that’s not what’s happening here. Jesus didn’t have a mixture of grace and truth, as if they were separate qualities. No, He was fully both.
The Holy Spirit, too, is described in Scripture as the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of grace, showing us that in God, these are not competing attributes but perfectly unified. What John is saying is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never operated without mercy and never operated without truth. Why? Because He was full of the Holy Spirit.
We can be kind. We can be truthful. We are full of the Holy Spirit.
Mercy and truth are not adversaries; they are brothers. The Proverb goes on to say that the outcome will be this: “And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.”
It's fascinating that so often we don’t speak the truth, not out of love, but out of a desire to control how others see us. We fear rejection or disapproval, so we stay quiet or soften the message. But when we lean into the Holy Spirit and allow His mercy, grace, and truth to flow through us, the very favor we were striving for often follows. Not because we controlled the outcome, but because we honored Him.
What an odd couple mercy and truth are. I’ve grown up in the south all my life. There are so many things I love about the south: the food, the weather, the hospitality, and the people. One of things I’ve struggled with, at times, is that the southerners can be nice to each other’s face and yet talk about people behind their back.
“Bless your heart” is not a term of endearment but a polite way of passing judment in the south. Recently, Lauren and I had a friend point out the difference between being nice and being kind. Kindness is deeply connected to truth. Being nice is often absent of truth.
We all have people in our lives that tell us what we want to hear, usually with good intentions. They don’t want to rock the boat or cause tension. The problem with this is that we all have blind spots, which is why we need people who love us enough to speak the truth. Not what we want to hear but what we need to hear.
That’s why I love this passage. Mercy and truth are brothers, not adversaries. I can be merciful and truthful at the same time. There is no greater example of this than Jesus. He operated in such mercy and grace, yet He was full of truth.
While Jesus showed us a perfect balance, I've noticed myself leaning too far in one direction over the years. As I’ve gotten older, I have become more blunt and to the point. Some of that can be good, but I also have sensed the Holy Spirit touching my lack of mercy. I think the years of ministry have, in some ways, jaded me. After seeing the same things over and over again, I’ve become less merciful and more judgmental.
In reference to Jesus, John says …
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 NKJV
Mercy in the Old Testament and Grace in the New Testament are almost interchangeable, both flowing from the heart of God. Jesus is full of grace and truth, embodying both perfectly. It’s no wonder He lived out what the writer of Proverbs described: truth and mercy, not just spoken but worn like a necklace, ever present, guiding every word and action.
It’s interesting to consider that, in our human understanding, it seems impossible to be completely full of two things at once. We tend to think in terms of balance or mixture: part grace, part truth. But when you study the Greek, that’s not what’s happening here. Jesus didn’t have a mixture of grace and truth, as if they were separate qualities. No, He was fully both.
The Holy Spirit, too, is described in Scripture as the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of grace, showing us that in God, these are not competing attributes but perfectly unified. What John is saying is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never operated without mercy and never operated without truth. Why? Because He was full of the Holy Spirit.
We can be kind. We can be truthful. We are full of the Holy Spirit.
Mercy and truth are not adversaries; they are brothers. The Proverb goes on to say that the outcome will be this: “And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.”
It's fascinating that so often we don’t speak the truth, not out of love, but out of a desire to control how others see us. We fear rejection or disapproval, so we stay quiet or soften the message. But when we lean into the Holy Spirit and allow His mercy, grace, and truth to flow through us, the very favor we were striving for often follows. Not because we controlled the outcome, but because we honored Him.
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