Daily Devotion - Compassion
My dog, Angel, probably thinks she's brilliant. Her thinking may go something like this: I've got a great idea! Bones need to be buried, right? Every dog knows that. Why should I dig in the yard anymore? It's dirty, and my master won't let be back inside until he washes me off. I hate being washed.
In the Old Testament books of prophecy, the God of Israel used picture after stunning picture, story after story to somehow reach the wandering, rebellious hearts of His people.
Jesus spent time with smelly, unappealing people who he encountered every day. He talked with them, ate with them, touched them and genuinely cared for them and expects as much from us.
Invariably, each time the Sunday School class held a contest to see who could memorize the most verses of scripture, the first verse out of everyone’s mouth was John 11:35, “Jesus wept.”
We can be very quick to use a microscope to magnify the faults and foibles of other people, while pulling out the telescope to cause our own faults to seem minimal in comparison.
After the devastating hurricane, eople came out of their comfort zones, either going to the disaster area or asking hurricane victims to come into their humble abodes to share their lives with them. This is God at work. He makes a way where there seems to be no way.
We have been given the awesome privilege of bearing upon our own shoulders, the burden of His reproach. And, to become his extended hand to a very wounded world, a world that longs to be delivered and set free from the burdensome weight that comes along with daily living.
To that wounded heart that has never known compassion, His voice is calling out to you wherever you may be. I speak not of a religious icon, or a figure from history. No, my suffering friend, He is reaching out to you even now. His great desire is that you would come to Him with all your faults, and all your cares.
Suddenly, I realized this child was a survivor, even though he had been underwater for at least 20 minutes. No matter what condition we found him in, God had caused his mother to name him Jesse. Survivor!
Let’s pray that through this heart of compassion we would be moved to become a part of what God is doing to take the gospel to hurting people around the world.
I recently watched a television preacher gleefully condemning a crowd of gays to hell. He laughed as he did it. While the Scriptures certainly teach against homosexuality, I could not understand the preacher’s apparent pleasure in his condemnations. Jesus took no delight in such pursuit.
Our God is very capable of raising the dead and bringing complete restoration in our lives; just as He raised Lazarus from the dead. He had to 'Come Out From The Tomb.'
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