Mercy

What is mercy? In very simple terms, I've heard mercy described as ‘not getting something that you deserve.’ This is kind of accurate, but it doesn't fully express what mercy is. More appropriately, mercy is withholding a punishment or consequence. It is preventing pain and hardship from coming to someone. Sometimes that is deserved pain or punishment or hardship, and sometimes mercy is simply the act of making a hard choice or sacrificing to withhold that pain from the person. 

Mercy is defined as: “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.”

Matthew 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”