As we strive to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, we should be as merciful as Our Heavenly Father, making mercy our default.

We like to think we are tender-hearted, but sometimes we fail to appreciate what others are really going through. Compassion is more than tender-heartedness.

God is a multidimensional personality, a whole Being whose wonderful, perfect attributes work together—and whose traits we are to come to know and reflect.

Because we would die from exposure to God's glory, the name of God, reflecting His characteristics, is the only way we can approach God.

God seems to display irreconcilable contradictions, such as great wrath and deep compassion. Yet these are not contradictory traits but rigorous responses.

In God's hands, trials and afflictions are tools to produce refined character and joy, and to move us away from worldly choices and back to His purpose.

Like Job, we must surrender to God's will and purpose for our lives, realizing that both pleasant and horrendous times work for our spiritual development.

Mercy is an important dimension of God's character, displayed by our compassion on and forgiveness of those over whom we have power.

It is easy to fall into the traps of judgmentalism, gossip, and unforgiveness. We must overcome our natural reactions and use forbearance in our relationships.

Moses' life was full of lessons and instruction, and at the end of it, he left us a song that encapsulates much of what he learned about godly living.

Kindness goes hand-in-hand with love. It is an active expression of love toward God and fellow man, produced through the power of God's Spirit.

We desperately need to internalize the godly traits of kindness, mercy, compassion, and tenderness, displacing the carnal traits of bitterness and wrath.

Because kindness is love in action, we must galvanize our thoughts into concrete behaviors, including offering encouraging words and performing uplifting deeds.

The harsh religion of the Pharisees was unfeeling, placing more attention on rituals and man-made laws, and had turned their super-righteousness into sin.

The phrase, 'a man after God's own heart' modifies God rather than David's carnal character. God chose David because He discerned a heart He could work with.

Even the accuser of the brethren made no accusations against Job, the first of several curious absences—things left unsaid—in the book of Job.

As Israel comes to itself, God will gently re-gather His people from their exile, an event which will make reconciliation available to the entire world.