May the peace and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Mercy is the immense compassion we feel for other people. Especially if they are people who do not know God and who know that their end is the end of death. When you see someone walking blindly into a ravine, the ideal is to run and provide the corresponding help. There are many people in life who walk towards a cliff and someone is required to run to rescue it. The problem is when we do not feel compassion for people who turn away from God. In the same way that God rescued us and delivered us from the deep dimensions of Sheol, we must feel compassion for those who have not reached the feet of Christ.
God loves the sinner, but he needs workers for the lost to come to God. A deep compassion is needed to extend our hands to sinful souls. Many times you have to cry, moan, pray with deep agitation, fast and observe the souls bound in the dark by Satan.
How much more should we cry and feel a unique compassion for our family members who are still with their backs to God? The Bible highlights the painful compassion of a prophet who continually cried for the spiritual condition of his people and his constant desire to do evil before God. This is Jeremiah, often called "the weeping prophet," because in his writings it is very scarce that evokes comfort or relief. Jeremiah was crying because the people of his time had turned their backs on God and had begun to reap the terrible consequences of their sin.
He also cried because, being a true prophet of God, Jeremiah saw the impending devastation, and although on certain occasions he urged the Lord to give his wandering people the full measure of what they deserved (Jer 11:20), most of the time he pleaded for mercy and divine grace that will lead them to repent (Jr 8, 20-22).
Do we cry when we see people move away from God and go to trial? Do we strive to show compassion to those in grave spiritual danger? Or do we keep silent, hoping to see God's wrath poured out on our enemies?