True to our love for food, we Filipinos have numerous idioms relating to food. One of my favorites is “Pusong Mamon,” which means “tender heart.” A person with a “Pusong Mamon” is someone who is sensitive to the plight of others, someone who has a lot of empathy, kindness, and mercy.
As followers of Jesus, the God that we serve is a tender-hearted God. He is a loving Creator who looks at us with the eyes of a Father, ready and willing to provide comfort, protection, assurance, and most of all forgiveness and understanding.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” Isaiah 30:18
Jesus’ parable about the Prodigal Son is our Savior’s one way of telling us how compassionate or “Pusong Mamon,” our Heavenly Father is. After being disrespected and disobeyed by his son, the father in the parable ran to his son the second his son asked for forgiveness and mercy.
“I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:18-24
In that parable, Jesus was like telling us that we will not be met with ifs, or buts when we come back to Him. We will just be met with a warm embrace assuring us that now that we have realized we were wrong and would want to change and move forward, He will be with us every step of the way.
Our loving God assures us that as we surrender our lives to Him, and abide in His word, He will grace our lives with His presence, help us endure inevitable difficulties, and give us the peace and joy that transcends challenging circumstances in our lives.
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Psalm 103:8
And the Bible explains that the tender-heart of our Creator was magnified for us even more when He sent His only Son to redeem us. When Jesus came to be one like us, we got concrete proof that when God says He knows what we are going through, He indeed knows because He experienced it Himself.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
So everytime we pray and ask for forgiveness, mercy, and help, let us always remember God’s “Pusong Mamon” character. That although He is limitless, and unwavering on His promises, there is a soft spot in His heart that could prompt Him to relent with His judgment and punishment for us. When we come to Him in humility, ask for His forgiveness, and repent from our wrongdoings, He can change His mind about withdrawing His presence and guidance from our lives.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Luke 15:11-32 and Psalm 91 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Do you need assurance of God’s tenderheartedness today?
Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, thank you for always being so sympathetic to my plight. For your kind mercy and genuine love. Give me the grace and confidence to continue looking into your loving character, and tender-hearted nature whenever I am in distress, or when I have failed you. Give me the confidence to stand up once again and reach out to you. Amen.
“He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19
