Mercy is grace's effect on justice, and thus it is another side of justice. It is rooted in love: God shows mercy because God loves us and forgives us. Through grace and mercy, God offers those who do wrong a new chance to get it right, or at least better, a new opportunity to follow Christ. Mercy is cause for hope. Jesus' act of loving mercy stands behind the entire Christian faith. Mercy is limited only by justice, which in this context is a limit to mercy for someone(s) in order that there be mercy for the rest. The word is of a piece with grace, in that God shows mercy in abundance and without cost. As with so much of what God gives, there is no supply shortage of mercy. A key biblical instance of the term "mercy" is found in 1 Timothy 1:16:
"But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the foremost [of sinners], Christ Jesus might display his limitless patience, to make me an example for those who would believe on him for eternal life."
Mercy sometimes functions as a spiritual gift. The Spirit gives you a special effectiveness or ability to give mercy in a manner or timing that crucially matters for softening the suffering of others, in some direct way. The right act of mercy is done at just the right time. You become merciful. When it happens, it's a less mystical side of an impulse not unlike empathy, but without quite the same 'inner radar'.
We're all called to be merciful toward each other. But sometimes the one you are the least merciful to is yourself. The first step toward inner healing may be to recognize your wrongs, but for the healing to take place, it's essential that you show yourself some mercy by not thinking horribly of yourself. What good is it if you learn to practice mercy from being merciful to others when you teach yourself cruelty by being cruel to yourself? Your task is not to whip yourself, but to actually change.
One of the stranger passages in the New Testament is in the letter of Jude, where he writes of Jesus' mercy in giving eternal life. Then he writes, "And have mercy on some, who are doubting." (v. 22) This is an instruction not to give punishment when someone's doubts are showing, to give space for them as they sort things through. (In this case, 'doubt' is clearly not the same as disbelief, though that too might entail mercy.) Then, it says that on some, we are to "have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the garment polluted by their bodies" (v. 23). It's not about hating the person, for we're to show mercy on them. But it's also not about their smelly clothes. Just as a person can be 'clothed' in righteousness (so says the apostle Paul), they can also be 'clothed' with the stuff of ungodly character and concerns. The 'fear' is that such ungodliness might start to involve you as you relate to them, that you might start acting as they do or that you might fall for their tricks. So care must be taken when being merciful with them, lest it turn you away from Christ or get you caught up in their merciless tricks. Yet this fear is a qualifier, not the action itself: your rejection ("hating") of their ungodliness is not a reason to fail to be merciful toward them.
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