Compassion for Others

So, I have not yet decided how often I will be posting on this blog... I guess for now I will just go with whenever God has laid something on my heart that needs to be said. Today He is really tugging at my heart. Today we live in a world that, frankly, is going to hell. The society we live in is self-centered and arrogant. We are teaching our children these days to worry only about themselves, instant gratification, and how to 'out-do' the next person. Well I am here to tell y'all NO ONE is any better than the next person. Not one single one of us is perfect or flawless. We are all dirty, rotten sinners, and Jesus loves each and every one of us any way. I am not going to get on a soap-box here or start harping on anyone about how to raise their kids. I am not even going to get into the problems with our society too much... right now. Today, what i want to talk about is compassion. The world we live in today has very little compassion left in it, and that saddens me.

If you go to Google and type in "what does the bible say about compassion" you will find a website called Openbible.info. On that website you can do a topical search for any word or words you want. If you type in 'compassion' you will find 78 verses about compassion in the Bible. Many of those are about God's compassion for us. Others are instructing us to have compassion for each other. Now, I could talk all day long about God's compassion for us. Oh, I could probably write an entire BOOK about His compassion for me! I have not led the most righteous life by any means. Poor Mother Teresa would probably have blushed just standing next to me during certain times in my past. But today I want to talk about how we should have compassion for each other.

The idea of this blog is to bring encouragement, guidance, and support to other lost souls out there looking for better understanding and a deeper relationship with Christ. So I want to use my topic today to encourage all of you to encourage all of you. If each of us starts making a conscious decision each day to show compassion to even just one person in our lives, then tomorrow two some ones, and so on; just imagine what that would do in your lives. It won't be instant, but over time you will feel a tremendous change in yourselves. It will get easier and easier until it is second nature. And before you know it the people around you will start changing too. You may think I am crazy right now but it's true. Dr. Suess said in The Lorax "Unless some one like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." We as Christians really need to take a good long look at that sentence. As we sit back and judge that the rest of the world is going to hell we need to ask ourselves... what have I done to help any of them change direction? What have I done to show even one of the non-believers that there is a better way? When was the last time I cared a whole awful lot about making things better?

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14-17 NIV

If we are walking around calling ourselves Christains but behaving just as selfishly and arrogantly as everyone else what does that make us? If we do not show compassion and kindness every where we go what good is our "faith"? Are we leading others to Christ through acting like the rest of the world? No! We are supposed to be different! We are a reflection of Christ. The only way other people will know that we are Christians, or that we belong to Jesus Christ, is if we show love to each other [John 13:35]!! We need to be helping each other, loving each other, showing comfort and compassion to each other.

"If anyone says "I love God," but keeps on hating his brother, he is a liar; for if he doesn’t love his brother who is right there in front of him, how can he love God whom he has never seen?" 1John 4:20 TLB

I know we are living in a very selfish world, but today, as the holidays are getting into full swing, I encourage you to show a little compassion and understanding toward someone in your life, or even a total stranger. Find some way today to allow God's love and light to shine through you! Tomorrow, find two ways or times that you can do that. Pray for yourself, me, and the other people reading this blog that we all might have strength and help from Christ to help us find ways to show more love and understanding toward others. The more you pray about it and the more you practice it, the easier it will get. Let's start today showing more compassion in the world and just see what happens! See what God can do with your life when you ask Him to use you to show His love to the people around you.

Let me end with this... I know we live in a tough world. We have all been through hard times. We are all "going through some things". As you go about your day or week try to keep this in mind... you do not know what the person in line behind you at the store is going through. That man on the street corner, you do not know his story. Before you judge any of those people, try to image yourself in their situation. Also, think of the hard times in your past. Whatever you have been through in your past someone else may be going through it today. Think about how it felt when someone helped you out during your hard times. Or how it might have felt if even one person took the time to show you some compassion...Then go show that compassion to someone else today. We know that the Lord works all things for the good of those who love him, [Romans 8:28] so whatever bad stuff you went through before might have given you the tools you need to help someone else now. Let God use you and your past to help someone else and their future. Take the love and compassion Christ had for you and show it to someone else today.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV

 

Additional verses: Eph 4:29, 32; Col 3:12-13; Gal 6:2; 1Cor 16:14; John 13:34; 1John 4:8; Rom 13:8; Matt 7:1-2... There are hundreds of verses about Compassion, Loving Each Other, and Judging Others in the Bible. I encourage you to look up these key terms/words either in your Bible concordance or online, or both. Take time today to get into your Bible, get to know God and yourself. Take note of verses throughout the Old and New Testaments that talk about God's love and compassion toward people, we should be striving every day to be more like Him.

Finding my Purpose

"But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God’s mighty kindness and love." Acts 20:24 LB

OK... this is my very fist blog... EVER... so bare with me guys. I am sure there will be some growing pains along the way, but the very purpose of this blog is spiritual growth, so hopefully we will all grow together.

Let me start with some background info about myself. I was raised 'southern baptist'. I was baptised when I was 8 years old. From then until I was 17 I believed that I was following Christ and loved him with all my heart. Just a few months before my 17th birthday I met a boy... an older boy... who was total bad news... with a capital BAD! As I grew closer to him, I grew further from Christ, further from my family, and eventually further from my friends too. Shortly after my 17th birthday I helped my dad and step-mom bury my 3 week old sister. I allowed that, and many other things, damage my relationship with Christ. The next 6-7 years of my life were rough... to say the least. But almost 3 years ago I found a Cowboy Church in my area and things began to change. I realized I had never really followed Christ the way he intended for us to. I realized that I did not really KNOW who and what God really is and what he could do in my heart and my life if I would let him.

Today I have a real, honest, intimate relationship with Christ. I am still a work in progress, I will never claim to be perfect, or a saint... on most days I'm lucky if I can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. I am a MESS. But if there is one thing I know for sure it is that my God can turn even the biggest mess into a MESSage. In the last few weeks I have begun really studying the Bible. In the past I never truly studied it, I would read a passage here and there, listen to the sermons on Sunday mornings, I would even quote a few key verses when it suited me, but I never STUDIED the word of God. Now that I am studying it like I should I am completely overcome with the desire to share what I am learning with others. I can't hold in my joy of drawing nearer to the Lord and I want to share that.

As I am getting to know Christ I am also getting to know myself. It stands to reason that as I drawer nearer to Him I will learn more about myself as well because, after all, we are created in His image, right? I know that I am a child of the living God. I also know that His word promises us that he will give us the desires of our hearts. Right now, the biggest desire I have is to better serve the Lord and to share His love and kindness with others. That is why I am starting this blog. I was lost for so very long and now that I am finding my way home I want to help other people who are feeling as lost and alone as I was.

So, if you're a simple gal, or guy, like me and you want to get closer to the Lord, but feel like you just don't know how... if you hear the words 'bible study' and immediately think 'yeah I would like to study the word more but I have no idea how'... if you feel totally lost, like you're too far gone, too far away from the Lord to ever be reached... you've come to the right place! I am here to tell ya, no where is TOO far for God. He can reach you if you're open to it. If he can reach me, he can reach ANYONE. I pray that I can be the vessel he wants me to be, a tool for him to use to reach out to you lost souls out there. I was lost once too and God used an old metal barn and a preacher with a tendancy to step outside of the tradtional box to reach me. I hope that this blog can reach even just ONE person out there.

Whoever is reading this, know that you are not alone. You have a sister in Christ here. I want to share the love of the Lord with you. I want to share his living word with you. I want to help you in your walk as a Christian. I hope that this blog and my words help... if they do, contact me, tell me about yourself and how this has helped you, I want to get to know you and pray for you!
"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor 1:3 NIV