peppermypet: October 2012

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Godly Compassion

As we open our hearts to minister to those around us, we soon discover we live in an imperfect world full of sickness, heartache, and frustrations. Many of us (many more than we realize) are facing trials which are sometimes quite severe. When we are finally invited into someone's private world and allowed to hear of their pain, it can be difficult to know what to do or say.

As we grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus, we learn of His truths: "Be joyful always;
pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We
understand and usually have some actual experience with God's loving plan and purpose; "in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). But there are times when this type of advice - even this type of truth - can be a little cold and fail to comfort or draw someone closer to God.

While it's absolutely true that God will use our pain and suffering for His glory, it may not be the first response someone needs to hear when they enter a difficult trial;
"There is a time for everything...a time to be silent and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7). We must learn to be sensitive to the more immediate need.

When Lazarus became very sick, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus but He did not come until after Lazarus died. Mary fell at Jesus' feet and cried: "Lord if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:32). At that moment, Jesus did NOT begin preaching "Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4). There would be other opportunities for sermons, other opportunities to speak about faith and trust, but in this moment the need simply required compassion.

John 11:33,35
"When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also
weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled...Jesus wept."

The Creator of the Universe wept! From the beginning of time, Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead; He knew many lives would soon be changed through this miracle. Though good would ultimately come from this pain and sorrow, these were real people who were grieving: "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" (John 11:5).
In this time of greatest need, Jesus took time to show He truly cared and understood their pain.

The world is in great need of the healing power of Jesus Christ. Sin has caused
separation from God and left many lives in a mess. As we minister through
encouragement and the truth of God's Word, we are called to do so while "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). But love does not exist outside of a relationship. And in a loving relationship we will often best demonstrate God's truth by listening and comforting with a Godly compassion.

http://gdwm.org/index.php/resources/

Two Prayer

The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' - Luke 18:11-13

Here we have two kinds of prayer set side by side for our instruction. The first really is no prayer at all; it is only a bit of self-praising in the presence of God. According to his own words the Pharisee was better than certain other men, but he never thought of comparing himself with God, the only true thing to do.

This Pharisee has many followers. Many people's self-worth is rooted in their view that they are not as bad as some other people. The dishonest man soothes his conscience with the reflection that he is not a drunk. The lying man is thankful that he pays his debts. The gossiping woman finds great comfort in the fact that she is not a heathen like her neighbor, who never goes to church at all. But it is a poor kind of virtue which has nothing better to build on than such imperfect relative goodness. One may be clear of a great many ugly faults that his neighbors have, and yet not be a saint himself.

The other man's prayer was completely different. There was comparing himself with other men to see whether he or they were the worse. There was no going over sins he had not committed. He said nothing about his neighbor's sins, but was very honest in speaking about his own sins. He stood before God burdened with the consciousness of his own personal guilt, and cried to God for mercy -- mercy wholly undeserved, to be granted only through grace. It is very obvious which was the true and acceptable prayer. It is the humble persons prayer that reaches heaven. God wants honesty in our requests of Him. He wants humility. It is not enough to be worried about other people's sins -- the sinner with whose sins we ought to be most concerned about is our own.