Monday: Compassion and Repentance
The intermingled stories of salvation and the great controversy call us to acknowledge a truth about life that is foundational for our understanding of our world and ourselves, and that is: we and our world are fallen, broken, and sinful. Our world is not what it was created to be, and though we still bear the image of the God who created us, we are part of the world’s brokenness.
Compassion
The sin in our lives is of the same nature as the evil that causes so much pain, oppression, and exploitation all over the world.
Thus, it is right for us to feel the hurt, discomfort, sorrow, and tragedy of the world and of the lives around us. We would have to be robots not to feel the pain of life here. The laments in the book of Psalms, the sorrows of Jeremiah and the other prophets, and the tears and compassion of Jesus demonstrate the appropriateness of this kind of response to the world and its evil, and particularly to those who are so often hurt by that evil.
Read Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14, Luke 19:41-42, and John 11:35. What was it in each of these verses that moved Jesus with compassion? How can we have a heart that is softened to the pain around us?
We also need to remember that sin and evil are not just “out there”, or the result of someone else’s brokenness: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8, NIV). In the understanding of the biblical prophets, sin was a tragedy not primarily because someone had broken “the rules”, but because sin has broken the relationship between God and His people, and also because our sin hurts other people. This may take place on a small or large scale, but it is the same evil.
Selfishness, greed, meanness, prejudice, ignorance, and carelessness are at the root of all the world’s evil, injustice, poverty, and oppression. And confessing our sinfulness is a first step in addressing this evil, as well as a first step toward allowing the love of God to take its rightful place in our hearts: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV).
| Look at yourself (but not too closely nor for too long). In what ways are you broken and part of the bigger problem? What’s the only answer, and the only place to look? |
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I am currently reading a book on genetics and DNA. It is interesting that Darwin's notion of the survival of the fittest became the catch cry of evolutionists and that some people took that idea and decided to apply that notion to the human race. This developed into the science of Eugenics: that we should ensure the survival of the human race by killing off the feeble minded and criminals among us. The most horrific expression of Eugenics was Hitler's use of it to support the genocide of Jews, Gypsies and other undesirables. What is not so well known was that in The USA, during the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of criminals were sterilised in an effort to stop them from breeding and weakening the human race.
Eugenics is now regarded as false science but the notion of survival of the fittest is still one of the arguments attached to evolutionary theory.
One of the very best arguments we can give for the existence of a caring, creator God is by living out the principle of caring for the weak and needy. We like to think that we can argue for the God using rhetoric and reason, but a Christian, living by the principle of loving our neighbour, speaks more powerfully of God than any words of argument. Jesus said this to us:
Those who claim salvation argue by doing.
Amen.Thank you.
Powerful thought, thanks for sharing!
According to an August 2017 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of girls age 15 to 19 committingsuicide doubled from 2007 to 2015, to a 40-year high of 5.1 per 100,000. The most recent statistics for boys, whose suicide rates have always been higher, are also grim. After peaking in the 1990s and declining for a decade and a half, their suicide rate climbedby more than 30 percent between 2007 and 2015, to 14.2 per 100,000.
https://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-teen-suicide.html
Accetance
Those who came to Jesus knew they would be accepted by him. They could come just as they are.
Do I accept people as they are?
Acceptance leads to open communication
I cannot expect anyone to open up unless they know they have a safe space.
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak this is in the bible.
This is not human invention. It is a revelation by God.
Give them your full attention don't get distracted.
When I am talking to my daughter she would randomly ask Appa are you listening to me.
They are in need of attention.
Engage professional help
When appropriate seek professional with the consent of the person.
How often do you engage a teenager in a conversation?
Do you know the struggles of this age?
If they are not part of the church today, there will be no church in the future.
We acknowledge that, what are we willing to do to accept them.
Many are the struggles a young person faces today. The sins that happened in the dark is now available within the palm of our hand in the form of a electronic devices. a struggle I did not have to face growing up.
When we accept them, break down the barriers of separation experiencing the Love of God they will be transformed and no one will be able to pluck them from His hand.
It is not easy to recognize our own defects. Without this analysis, we tend to hide our own limitations and make it easier to look at other's. When we are able to see what's wrong within ourselves, and how we deal with our doble nature, we may look a little soft towards our neighbor!
The right place to admire and reflect upon is the uncomparable character of love found in Jesus.
Compassion requires two things: understanding and empathy. Compassion means that I understand your experience because I get what is going on for and with you - and therefore I 'feel' for you and with you and will act towards you in ways that are in your best interests.
Interestingly, when God revealed Himself to Moses in Ex 34:6, the first attribute that God self-revealed was compassion. Commentators have rightly noted that it is fitting that this is the first attribute disclosed as all subsequent attributes are based upon, and flow from, a foundation of compassion (take a look for yourself). However, I need to mention that the end of verse 7 doesn't seem to be compassionate - but that is due to poor translation of the underpinning concept being expressed in Hebrew.
Fast-forward to the New Testament and we again see compassion as a key attribute of Christ in Heb 4:14-16. Consequently, because of Christ's compassion for us, because He has gone through what we go through, we can have confidence in coming to Him in time of need to receive help in our times of weakness as we seek to be Christlike in our daily lives and our daily interactions with others.
Consistently (a) reflecting upon what compassion is (and its connection with self-renouncing love), (b) remembering that God is first and foremost compassionate, and (c) praying for the ongoing renewing and restoration of our heart to one of compassion and self-renouncing love will see us progressively grow in our experience and expression of compassion.
Rightly understood and appreciated, compassion (rather than condemnation) is the most powerful basis upon which true life transformation can occur. Hence, Rom 8:1