Compassion
Why we have a savior is because of God’s nature is reflected in compassion on us. That compassion brought a great individual sacrifice upon him.
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God humbled himself.
God literally got his hands dirty. God went out of his way. God paid a high price. To be born, lo live, to suffer and to die an ignominious death for those who would be unthankful and forgetful.
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When He gives us His Spirit, we know it is operative because of our attitudes, actions, words and deeds. In a word, if we lack compassion, His Spirit is not the driving force in our lives.
We can shout because we are thankful all day, but if that does not translate into compassion for others that have so much less, what a waste.
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How often is the plan of God hindered because we lack compassion?
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How often has the kingdom of God moved forward because people could and would be bothered by the plight of others because of a simple, yet costly emotional response that demands a practical answer from us?
Jesus judged the sheep and goats because of their response to the faceless, nameless crowd with a need. Those that reached out in ways that would never be seen or applauded were welcomed.
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Those that could not be bothered were sent away weeping.
Tongues, Gifts, Prophecies, Blessings, Anointings…
It’s never about you.
It’s never about your personal promotion or ministry.
It’s about God’s compassion intended for you, to flow to you and find an outlet to flow through you to others.
It might not be prison ministry, or nursing home, or children, or outreach, however, if His compassion does not find a proof in some consistent outlet…. it’s not because of the weakness of God, but potentially it speaks to the hardness of our own unaffected hearts.
Compassion
Jesus looked into the face of his own people and told the story of the good Samaritan. He pointed to the acts of one man these Jews would reject and praised his compassion. A samaritan who could be bothered by the plight of another. When those who were called, anointed and directed to show compassion could not and would not be bothered.
I confess, God has to help me. I am not a bleeding heart by nature. However, I do understand my need to allow myself to be affected and seek to help and minister to those in a hard spot.
I am not talking about the professional beggars and sluggards. I am speaking of those who through circumstance, poor decisions, and sin… find themselves crushed under the weight of life.
Many people are dealt a bad hand. If you do not know anyone in a desperate situation, something is wrong with your walk with God.
The fruit of the spirit can be summarized in this one word.
Compassion
The fruit of the spirit is compassion.
My prayer today, “Lord help me to be humble enough to see the need of others. Their need for a kind word, a smile, a moment of my time and time in my prayer.
Help us that our words of love and compassion to be more than platitudes and quotes that make us sound smart, yet are hollow in actual deeds and actions.
Thank you for your compassion on me. Help me to be an instrument that others can know you through what I can do for them.
In Jesus Name,
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,” James 1:27
“But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” 1Jo 3:17