Just One More Lord

 Last time, we looked at rightness vs righteousness, and in that fictional story of righteousness, we saw mercy being displayed. Now, we will switch gears and look at a very true story with details filled in that had mercy in it. After this, we will make a few comments about the nature of true mercy. 

 It started at Guam. The Japanese held it. The Americans wanted it. The Japanese had dug in, quite literally, caves, tunnels, pill boxes, filled with Japanese soldiers with machine guns. So this was where the 77th infantry found themselves. The road there had been interesting for them, for there was a medic in their group who was absolutely despised. He had voluntarily joined the army as a medic, and yet, when he prayed, his fellow recruits threw boots at him. That wasn't all, there was a lot of mocking, and worst of all, some officers tried to humiliate him publicly, and attempted to get him discharged. Yet, he perservered. Why all the hate? Because, he refused to carry a gun. "Thou shalt not kill" was an Old Testament command he took literally. His name was Desmond Doss. Now here they were, getting shot at, killed, wounded, and here was Desmond, unarmed, carrying a medical bag, scurrying to and fro in the face of machine gun fire, tending to the wounded. He earned their respect then, and he kept it. However, more was to come, especially at Okinawa. With a cargo net secured on a cliff, they climbed it and found themselves on a  ridge, only to be met by an overwhelming number of Japanese soldiers. They fought hard, attempted to dig in, but to no avail. The survivors ran back to the cargo net on the cliff in a panic and tumbled back down. So, Desmond was alone, on a ridge with a bunch of wounded soldiers, many of which were probably his bullies. Perhaps a few of the shoe throwers. So, now what? To stay or go? He was totally in his rights to go. Yet, he stayed. He made a bowline knot in a rope, and used it to lower a man. Then, with a prayer, "One more Lord." He went back for another, as the bullets whistled by. "Please Lord, just one more." He went for another, "Oh God, one more please." Another soldier was lowered to safety. The bullets were still whistling by, machine guns were ratatating away, but Desmond scurried for another, "Lord Jesus, please! Just one more." So it went, on and on. Eventually 75 men were lowered in a bowline knot in a rope by one unarmed and bullied young man who wouldn't quit. During this time, a Japanese soldier got a clear shot at Desmond, he settled his crosshairs on him and slowly sqeezed the trigger....click...a misfire! The soldier cleared the round, and waited, another clear shot, and again, he settled the crosshairs on him, and slowly squeezed the trigger....click! "The gun had been fine! what was wrong with it now?" he wondered.

 So here we are, thinking about a young pacifist who wouldn't carry a gun, and yet was not a coward. They made a movie about him, maybe you heard of it? Hacksaw Ridge they call it. There is a certain quality in the story that I want to highlight. It is a thing called mercy. This thing, is the opposite of revenge, this thing is meekness in it's most refined form. For it is in that time of crisis, when you have been mistreated so sorely by a friend, a fellow citizen of the same kingdom as you belong too. (In Desmond's case, America. In your case as a Christian, a fellow citizen of God's kingdom.) In this crisis, where you have your fellow citizen in a situation where he needs you to show him pure, undefiled biblical meekness or compassion in order to save him, that is when we all find out, if your soul, your emotions, have been so surrendered to the Lord, that mercy springs forth from deep inside you. It's at this moment, when it is easier to run, but yet you have the strength to stay, that if mercy is there, it will shine. This mercy is not to be a mechanical act. This mercy is to be a deep-seated character trait that comes from surrendering anything to the Lord that would keep it from showing forth, and then surrendering that empty space to the Lord to be filled as He sees fit. Matthew 5:7 says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. I believe that mercy has been given by Christ, and those who accept Christ and manifest his mercy are those who receive it. However, again, true mercy, is not a mechanical act, it is a work in the heart that Christ does, as we receive his nature. I am aware that non-christians have shown mercy at times, but, it is only Christ who always shows mercy to those who want it as a "full time aspect" of His nature and not as an occasional good fruit. 

 As we wrap up this chapter, I hope you are catching the idea that none of the things in the Beatitudes are things you do. If you just do it, you create a counterfeit, known as legalism. It looks good, it might even look like mercy, but it all falls apart when the chips are down. By doing it, I am speaking of an act that is not anchored in a Christlikeness inside you. No, this book is all about surrender as the only way to truly become Christlike. Please keep this in mind, we will share more on this when we talk about surrendering the soul in the next chapter. 

This has been chapter 10 of Surrender!? To Who?