Compassion

If I get to the newspaper first in the morning (of which I usually do), I keep an out for that part of the paper which occasionally shows up designed to pull the heartstrings of readers.  It is the section where there is a picture of some cute puppy or little kitty cat that is in need of a home.  I keep my eye out for it because I know when my wife Pam sees it, there will be some emotional response – depending on the cuteness factor.  You see, my wife is very compassionate.  She is moved by the plight of others – four-legged and two-legged.

            The root meaning of the word “compassion” is “to suffer with.”  Let’s be honest – compassion is an inconvenience.  We spend much of our energy making sure we don’t personally suffer and then along comes compassion, which requires that we suffer because of someone else’s needs.

            No one could say that Jesus tried to hide from suffering.  In fact he seems to invite it into his life most of the time.  And one of the ways he does that is being aware and attentive to those around him.  In his awareness, Jesus was regularly emotionally impacted by their needs.  He suffered in his heart because he saw the suffering of those around him.  If we are going to follow Jesus, if we are going to more and more live our lives like his, compassion will be something we grow into.  As we become more like Jesus we will be more aware of the needs of those around us and we will be moved by them.

            But here is something really important to understand about the compassion of Jesus:  compassion always moved him to action.  Compassion will move us to action if it is motivated by Godly love.  Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw sick people and he healed them.  Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw hungry people and he fed them.  Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw ignorant people so he taught them.  Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw hurting people and he comforted them.  God was moved with compassion when he saw us lost so he sent his Son Jesus to seek and to save us from our lostness.

            We are passionate about raising up compassionate followers of Jesus Christ to be risk-takers for God.  That is our mission at Cold Springs Community Church.  Compassion is an essential element of living out God’s mission in the world.

            Feeling compassion is an invitation to take the risk of acting in love to meet the need of another.  We haven’t been compassionate until we have acted upon the feeling.  We haven’t been like Jesus until we have actually done something in response to the need by which we have been moved.

            Here is my challenge – start exercising your compassion muscle.  Over the next five days pay particular attention to someone God has put in your life – a parent, daughter, son, spouse, neighbor, co-worker - and try to see a need they have each day and then do something to meet that need.  Decide you are going to act with compassion.  When you do this, you will become more like Jesus and you will probably really surprise some people!

            “…a compassionate follower of Jesus Christ…”  There’s no better way to live.

Peace and grace,

David

An Invitation To See God

Grow – Invite – Connect – Give

A couple of years ago my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The three kids worked together to pull the event off. My part was the invitations. OK, OK – it wasn’t my part, it was my wife Pam’s part. (I can’t even draw a straight line!) Well, my wonderful wife had a ball putting her creative powers to work designing and hand-making the invitations to the party. They were really great and when people got them, she received lots of compliments.

When I receive an invitation, I have rarely found it to be a negative thing. We receive invitations to weddings, to birthday parties, to baby showers and a host of other activities. An invitation is an opportunity to celebrate something good. Because of this, most people are open to receiving an invitation.

Last week I wrote about CSCC’s commitment to live out BBC – Balanced Biblical Christianity. As we live out BBC through the vision of CSCC of “Growing transformed lives through experiencing the truth, presence and people of Jesus” the idea of invitation is a critical element.

Each and every day most of us have interaction with other people. Whether we interact with many or few, our mission from Jesus is the same: make disciples. (see Matthew 28:18-20) Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Corinthians –

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:20-21, NIV)

Let me put it this way, the purpose of each of our lives is to invite others to see the glory of God. The way we do that is manifold. It depends on the person God puts in our path and the situation we find ourselves in.

Today I stopped to help a couple of ladies get their overheated car going. My parting comment was “I’ll pray for you that it all works out.” In the brief interaction I had with one of the women, it was apparent the broken down car was the least of her problems. I prayed that God would reveal His glory to this woman and her daughter. There was no time to present the Four Spiritual Laws, to invite them to CSCC, to even pray over their car. It was just one sentence that I pray sticks in her harried heart to nudge her closer to Jesus.

God puts people in our path every day that are so consumed with their problems that they can’t see God. You are there for a reason and that is to invite them to see life differently. A part of inviting others to see the glory of God is inviting them to be around people who are seeking God. Inviting people to your small group, a church activity, a worship service is all part of being an inviting person.

An invitation to see the glory of God is about as good as it gets. Don’t be ashamed or afraid. Go as far as the Holy Spirit leads you – no more, no less – as you invite others to see God’s glory. You might even see more of his glory too when you do!

With you in the journey,

David

PS – Do you have any “invitation stories?” Please tell me your story!

NEXT WEEK: How We Grow

Grow – Invite – Connect – Give