The Importance of Going All-In on the Carrot of Mercy

Recently I’ve been pondering what it would be like to have a pet donkey. It’s a crazy idea I know. Afterall, they can be stubborn, inconsiderate, lacking in self-awareness, and unwilling to change or adapt in response to new situations. That makes them sound like a terrible idea for a pet, but I’ve heard there is a trick to managing them. If you give them a carrot instead of hitting them with a stick, they are more willing to behave how you want.

I think the reason I’m drawn to having a pet donkey is that they remind me a lot of ourselves. We too can be stubborn, inconsiderate, lacking in self-awareness, and unwilling to change or adapt in response to new situations. Like donkeys, we too respond better when we receive a carrot of mercy rather than the stick of judgement.

When we use the stick of judgement:

• We are intolerant of someone’s faults and mistakes

• We keep an account of someone’s past

• We label someone instead of their behaviour

• We render judgement instead of assistance

• We chose punishment and resentment over forgiveness

  
  

By contrast, when we give the carrot of mercy:

• We accept that someone is imperfect and fallible

• We address behaviours instead of applying labels

• We value people over opinions

• We act with love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness

  
  

Looking out over the world is sometimes like looking out over a field of donkeys and coming to the realisation that if only the donkeys could stop hitting themselves and each other and with sticks of judgement, and gave out carrots of mercy instead, the world would be a better place.

This realisation highlights our need for something greater than ourselves. I’m not just referring to God, but a clearer vision of what God is trying to do in the world. To understand what God’s vision for the world is we need to unpack two passages:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44 NASB

It is interesting how the man in the parable doesn’t take the treasure home with him after he discovers it. Perhaps it was too heavy, and he couldn’t. Regardless, what he discovered was so important and valuable, that he buried it, sold everything he had and then bought the field.

Often when we look at this parable we focus on the treasure, the kingdom of heaven, and neglect the importance of the field he sold everything for. Because selling out and buying into the field was necessary for the man to be able to acquire the treasure, the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says the man sold everything! He rendered himself a dependent by selling everything that provided him comfort, safety, security, and the means to survive in life. The man’s actions represented someone going all-in for something they valued above everything else.

The question is, what is the field? What is it that Jesus says we need to buy into and be sold out for to the point of utter dependence upon God before we can fully experience the kingdom of heaven. Jesus explains what the field is in one of His previous parables regarding the kingdom of heaven:

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one. Matthew 13:36-38 NASB

Jesus says the field is the world, and that He is active in the world. Jesus is telling us to buy in and be sold out for everything that He is doing in the lives of people in the world to bring about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ work in the world can be summed up in one word: mercy. Jesus is asking us to become utterly dependent upon Him, to go all-in on His mission of mercy. Because without God’s mercy, nothing else matters. Mercy is treating someone differently from how we could treat them or believe that they should be treated.

God has the power to hit us with a very big stick of judgement. He could have found fault with us and our many mistakes. He could have labelled us instead of our behaviours and deemed us a lost cause. He could have resented us and withheld his love from us. He could have decided to never forgive us and punish us instead.

Thankfully, God chose not to do that. He chose instead to love us despite our faults, to forgive us for our mistakes, to acknowledge our imperfections and help us to be better. He decided to give us a carrot of mercy, instead of the stick of judgement.

Jesus tells us to live our lives by going all-in on the carrot of mercy. Because as God pours out His mercy into our lives, Jesus sows us, His disciples, back into the world to display His mercy to a world that so desperately needs it.

The world is full of people that would rather judge us than be merciful towards us, and like weeds, they can choke the life out of us.

This is why it is so important that we remember God’s mercy towards us, and respond mercifully towards ourselves, because there will be times when no-one else will. If we lose sight of God’s mercy towards us and chose to hit ourselves with the stick of judgement, we will find ourselves in a very dark and lonely place.

Remembering God’s mercy pulls us out of this place and reminds us how to give ourselves a carrot of mercy instead. We do so by accepting that we are imperfect and fallible, that we have faults, and we make mistakes, and acknowledge that this is okay. When we do this we extend to ourselves the same love, kindness, and forgiveness that God extends to us.

As we accept and appreciate God’s mercy and extend it towards ourselves this way, it refreshes us and enables us to be more merciful towards others. Treating ourselves and others with mercy is how we display God’s mercy to a world that desperately needs Him.

The value of God’s mercy is demonstrated through our actions. The more merciful we are towards ourselves and others, the greater the value we place on God’s mercy towards us. This is why we need to hold back on the stick of judgement and go all-in on the carrot of mercy, because it helps show the world the treasure that both He and the kingdom of heaven truly are.

In one hand we hold the stick of judgement and in the other the carrot of mercy. Like God, we have the power to choose which one we use.

So, whenever we notice ourselves using the stick of judgement, we need to take a moment and remember God’s mercy towards us and respond instead with the carrot of mercy. Because our lives, and the lives of those around us will be much better for it.