Thursday: Show Compassion
Daily Lesson for Thursday 30th of January 2025
While divine wrath is a “terrible” thing, it is by no means immoral or unloving. On the contrary, in the Old and New Testaments, God expresses wrath against evil because of His love. Divine wrath is terrible because of the insidious nature of evil in contrast to the pure goodness and splendor of God.
In this regard, love is essential to God; wrath is not. Where there is no evil or injustice, there is no wrath. In the end, God’s most loving action of eradicating evil from the universe also effectively will eliminate anger and wrath. And that is because never again will there be any injustice or evil. Forevermore, there will be only the eternity of bliss and justice in a perfect love relationship. There will never again be divine wrath because never again will there be the need for it. What a wonderful thought!
Some worry that divine anger might unintentionally be taken as giving license to human vengeance. Read Deuteronomy 32:35, Proverbs 20:22, Proverbs 24:29, Romans 12:17-21, and Hebrews 10:30. How do these texts guard against human vengeance?
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
According to Scripture, God has the right to bring judgment; and when He does, He always does so with perfect justice. Both the Old and New Testaments explicitly reserve vengeance for God. As Paul writes in Romans 12:19 (NASB), “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (quoting from Deuteronomy 32:35).
While God eventually brings judgment against injustice and evil, Christ has made a way for all who believe in Him. Indeed, it is “Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10, NKJV; compare with Romans 5:8-9). And this is according to God’s plan: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9, NKJV). Divine wrath is not nullified, but those who have faith in Jesus will be delivered from such wrath because of Christ.
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In what way has Christ’s atonement upheld justice while also delivering us from wrath? Recognizing that provision had been made for you, despite your shortcomings, how much more gracious should you be to others? |
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The Christian life that we have been called into should be human-centered. Christianity will be totally meaningless if hearts are never touched and moved in the face of the pain and suffering of our fellow humans. The love of God that has been poured into our hearts cannot look on the other side. We should not be indifferent to others' pain and suffering. We have been called to be our brothers and sisters' keepers. It is not possible to wipe everybody’s tears from their eyes, but we can wipe someone’s. Jesus was touched and moved into action. The world needs action-oriented Christians. We can do something for those going through pain and suffering around us and our pockets can even go to distant lands.
Our prayers can avail much, but when supplemented with practical assistance, pain and suffering are soothed more faster. Compassion is love expressed in action. There is no love unless expressed in human touch. Raising our fingers to assist someone in lifting the burden is practical love. No wonder we are told faith without deeds is dead.
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” – 1 John 3:17
Omwenga, I agree with everything you wrote in your comment except your beginning sentence:
Being "human-centered" is normally called "humanism." It is generally seen as a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
In other words, humanism generally teaches that humans can elevate themselves by developing their inner potential.
The rest of your comment clarifies that that's not what you believe. Thus, rather than writing for you what I think you meant, I invite you to re-phrase that first sentence.
Dear Inge,
My simple intended point is this, Perhaps my words failed me. We can only serve God through our fellow human beings. I have never seen God being hungry, homeless, naked, thirsty, displaced or facing pain and suffering. On the background of compassion, we can only express it to our fellow human beings. Nobody has compassion for God. God is all Almighty, therefore, in all our earthly efforts in serving God should be geaared towards the "least of these". Many times we claim to be serving God while our next-door fellow human being is in dire need. The story of Good Samaritan is very illustrative of the simple point I wanted to bring across regarding compassion.
Thank you for your reply. I thought this is what you meant, but, yes, your original sentence could give the wrong impression. I do like this:
The word "human-centred" was appropriate. Here are some meanings: marked by humanistic values, devotion to human welfare, humanitarian, humane.
I believe that true Christianity is God centered and outreach focused. Omwenga, perhaps that is what you meant. James 1:27 says that we should look out for and help the widows and orphans. Mark 12:30-31 "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul...'" “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. ' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In doing this we are fulfilling our call to duty as Christians. Christianity was never intended to be a "spectator sport," but a call to action.
Dear Tim,
The Bible is explicit in saying that it is impossible to serve God if we ignore or overlook our fellow human beings. Serving our fellow human beings particularly those who are not in a position to pay us back, is a great service to God. The Bible goes on to plead with us to have compassion for our fellow beings. If we fail to do that, we are worse than infidels. I was simply trying to state that compassion is people-focused. If we claim to be God-focused while ignoring the next-door neighbour, our hearts are far from God.
In my home town Tauranga, New Zealand there is a little church in an area called Gate Pa. It stands as a memorial to a battle fought between the Maori and Pakeha (British) in colonial days. When I was a kid there was a road cutting in front of the church and you could see the outline of one of the filled-in fighting trenches in the bank. There is a stained glass window in the church that imortalises the story of Hēni Te Kiri Karamū.
The colonists had buit a border - a fence with a gate in it - to stop the Maoris from invading the town. The battle that day had been hard for both Maori and Pakeha and by evening several men on both sides had been killed or wounded. When the sun set the battle ceased - there were no night vision aids in those days. Later in the darkness, the British moved into the area to collect their wounded and dead, only to discover the Maori woman, Hēni Te Kiri Karamū, already there tending to the wounded on both sides of the battle, bringing gourds of water for the thirsty. It was a salient lesson in compassion to the British who had been battling to keep out the savages at the border of Tauranga.
Hēni Te Kiri Karamū may not have read the Bible where Jesus said:
... but she had responded to the call to go out and help the wounded enemies.
Compassion, self-sacrficing love is at the heart of the Christian message. It is what Jesus lived during his earthly ministry and he invites us to share in that experience by being compassionate, even to those we love the least.
In a time when we see a resurgence of nationalism and the raising of walls between communities, it is very easy for compassion to become a victim of expediency. We pray for the Holy Spirit to solve the problems we face, but God needs our hands to do the work of compassion. We have to carry the cups of cold water, even to the least.
Is it not about "Love centred"Christian life we are encouraged to lead ???
I can only remember Stephen being stoned and singing; other martyrs were burned while worshiping God through songs! Their focus was not on the pain, self-pity, anger, or vengeance. They were wholly given to the Spirit of Love and Justice. Let this be our focus today: the Lord will accomplish the rest.
Because of our sin, we are guilty of the death of Christ, because He died for our sins to reconcile us to the Father. We were not deserving of the mercy and grace shown us anymore than others that sin against us deserve our mercy and grace. Are we more just than God? No possible way. Ephesians 4:30-32 is the way and reason we should conduct ourselves in relationship to others.