Bible lessons for persons with cognitive disabilities
___________________________________________________
Micah 6:8 Love mercy (© Jeff McNair)
"He has shown you, O man, what is good and what God wants you to do. But to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
In this lesson, I just talk through the following. As you explain a point, ask people if they can think of examples. I find that they often can, and even if they are off the mark a bit, you can probably weave their response into something that supports the point you are making. This lesson is not a lecture. It can be very interactive if you ask for example, or provide examples from what you know about the people who are in your group.
1. What is mercy?
-To be forgiven, to not get what you deserve
-The Bible says we deserve to be punished for the things we do wrong. The Bible also says that if we are sorry for the things we have done wrong, and believe in Jesus, God will forgive us of the things we do wrong. We don't deserve to be forgiven we deserve to be punished. But God shows mercy to us and doesn't give us what we deserve, punishment, he gives us what we don't deserve, mercy and forgiveness.
-Suppose you were to steal something from a store. What should happen to you? You should go to jail. But suppose you went to the store and said you were sorry and gave back the thing you stole. The owner of the store could show you mercy and forgiveness and not call the police. You deserve to go to jail. Because of mercy, you are forgiven. How would that make you feel? Would you love mercy if you were forgiven?
2. How do I love mercy?
-Being grateful, saying "Thank-you!" when someone is forgiving to you. That will encourage them to show mercy to somebody else in the future.
-Telling others they did the right thing to not hold a grudge, or in forgiving others. I will often say to someone, "God bless you for doing (whatever it was that the person did)." By saying that (whether or not the person is a Christian) you encourage that person to do more acts of mercy. In that way you show that you love mercy.
-Telling stories to others about how someone was merciful, was forgiving to you.
-Telling others about how God has forgiven you, has shown mercy to you.
3. How do I show mercy to other people?
-Being patient with others, even when it is hard. The Bible says in Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy." They will be shown mercy by whom? They will be shown mercy by God. So by you showing mercy, being forgiving of other people, you are actually not only helping the other person, you are helping yourself. It seems that God is watching you to see if you show mercy so he can show mercy to you.
-Matthew 9:13 "But go and learn what this means...I desire mercy not sacrifice." We sometimes get this backward. We think God wants us to not do things so he will be happy with us. So we don't smoke, or don't drink, or don't eat some kinds of foods because we think that makes God happy. We end up walking around with sad faces thinking about all the things we don't do. Many people who aren't Christians think that Christians are people who just don't do things. They think we are against having fun and judgmental of others because of all the things that we don't do. But God doesn't want us to be known by what we don't do, the sacrifices we make (although many of them might be good). He wants us to be know by the way we show mercy to people who offend us, the way we love and forgive other people. So if somebody does something unkind to me and I don't respond back by being unkind, I show mercy to someone else, and do what God wants me to do. In many ways, when I show mercy to other people, when I forgive them, I am like God! I get to be like God to other people!
4. We show our love to God by what we do for/to other people.
-Once again, God tells us what he wants us to do for HIM. He wants us to "love mercy" like Micah 6:8 says. He says he wants us to do mercy rather than sacrifice. So we get to show love to God, for God by what we do to and for other people. God tells me, "You want to make me happy? Show mercy to other people." That is good and it is what God wants us to do.
5. Why would I love mercy?
-I will love mercy if I have experienced mercy...if I have been shown or have experienced mercy, I can't help but love mercy. As a Christian, I know what it is like to be stuck in sin and then to be shown mercy and forgiveness. The way that forgiveness and mercy makes me feel should help me to want to have other people feel the same way when I show them mercy and forgiveness.
-I will love mercy if I understand mercy...it is either mercy or punishment, those are the two options. I don't want to be punished and neither does anyone else. If I understand this I will love mercy.
-I will love mercy if I want others to know about and receive God's mercy...How will people believe me that God has forgiven me and has shown me mercy if I don't forgive them and show mercy to them as well? I can't love mercy just for me and not for other people.
-I will love mercy if I want to be shown mercy...if I want to have other people show mercy to me, I have to show it to them.
-I will love mercy if I accept God's mercy and give myself to Him
-Romans 6:13 "Offer yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life." If I reject God, I reject God's mercy. It is as if I say to God, "I don't want you to forgive me, I want you to punish me." As a Christian I understand that because of the wrong things I have done, I deserve to be punished. Because God has shown me mercy and not punished me as I deserve, I am very grateful. My way of saying thank-you is to give myself to God. I give myself to God by loving mercy and doing mercy to others.
-It is interesting that James 1:27 says "True worship is to look after widows and orphans..." That is, I worship God by showing mercy to other people. I personally think that God would prefer the worship of me not thinking about myself all the the time and thinking about others, helping them, forgiving them, over me just singing songs about Him, singing songs about the wonderful things he has done. It is easy for me to sing songs, it really doesn't require much of me. But taking care of widows and orphans, showing mercy to others is a difficult and messy business.
In other words, to love and do for others, is to act like God acts toward you. To love mercy is to love the way God loves you and to do mercy is to be like God to other people.
Homework:
I am going to ask you next week about how you were like God in showing mercy and forgiveness to another person. Don't forget because I will be asking you!
___________________________________________________
© Jeff McNair