A Passion for Compassion

Israel

Israel

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. It’s now less than 3 weeks until Christmas! It’s pretty amazing how fast time flies. I’m pretty excited because I love spending time with family and just the Christmas atmosphere here at Word of Life is great too! I was just thinking again how blessed I am to have the opportunity to be serving at Word of Life this year. I was walking to the office from my house the other morning and someone in another building bangs on the window, smiles, and waves. Simple gestures of friendliness like that are a big reason of why I like it here a lot. I was also having a rough day this past week and I was blessed in having some great conversations with my roommates which really encouraged me. I love the people here. It is really one big family. The fact that I can learn, grow, and serve all at the same time with godly people who love the Lord is wonderful.

A concept I was thinking of this past week which also made me excited is the family of God. I love my dad, mom, brothers, sisters, relatives. There is often a genuine closeness and connection among family members. I get that this isn’t always the case with everybody, and my heart goes out to those who come from broken families. However, the cool part is that no matter what is the status of your family, if you are a believer in Christ, and you have been saved through trusting that He paid your sin in full through His death on the cross and that He rose again, then you belong to the family of God. When we are saved through Christ, we are then adopted into God’s family and become children of God. This has huge implications. This means that God is our Father. He’s not just any Father. He’s our perfect Heavenly Father. This means we have a Father who knows us, cares for us, and loves us as we are His children. Another really cool thing is that as believers all adopted into the family of God, we become brothers and sisters together in Christ. The connection we have is the best connection. We are connected through Christ. I just think it’s really neat that my fellow believers are my brothers and sisters. There’s a real closeness and connection there. This fact makes me want to just help, care for, encourage, and love my family in Christ. I’m thankful to God for making this truth a little more real to me this week! Another important truth to remember in all of this is that as the family of God, we have an incredible opportunity to work together, love each other, be unified in Christ, and in this whole process, provide an incredible testimony to the world of the joy of being in God’s family and living with a unified purpose of bringing glory to God. I believe we can reach people effectively this way with the gospel message. God’s family is amazing and people are entering this family every single day which is awesome! Praise God!

A Passion for Compassion 

I was thinking of a topic for my post this week. I decided to simply ask God what He wanted me to write about. If anyone is impacted by my posts, it’s the Holy Spirit who does the work and I praise God for that. Therefore, I should write about what God wants me to write about. God brought to mind Luke 14:13. I want to give you verses 12-14 as they all go together.

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”    – Luke 14:12-14

Now, before going any further, I don’t believe Jesus is saying it’s wrong to have dinner with friends and family. I hope that’s not the message you get either. However, sometimes we can do things for the wrong motives or to fit our own agendas. If we simply socialize just with certain people based on status or what we can get back from them, we may very well get an earthly reward and that’s it. I believe Jesus is talking about having a passion for compassion. In other words, we should actively, genuinely, and wholeheartedly look for ways to bless people with a compassionate and loving attitude without looking for any reward in return. We do it simply because we love God and want to glorify His Name. We actually receive a much better reward for this as it is paid out when Jesus comes back. However, I want to focus on the message of verse 13.

¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed.

Here’s a quick question for you, who are the neglected people in your life, the outcasts, the people who are lonely, the people who have disabilities? Who are the poor, crippled, lame, blind, people in your life? Who are the widows and the orphans? How do you treat them? I wonder how many people would benefit from even just a simple conversation with a person who cares about them. Do you invite these people into your life? These are people who maybe have absolutely nothing and nothing to offer you, but the point really isn’t to befriend people just because they can give us something is it? Isn’t the point of life to bring glory to God? If this is the case, the social status of another person shouldn’t matter. God calls us to love all people and this includes the outcast and the destitute person. We should be doing it with an enthusiastic, joyful, and passionate attitude. We need to keep the passion in compassion! I’m not going to go really long in this post, but I just want to wrap it up with a few examples and scenarios to give you an idea of what it looks like to love those around us who maybe can’t offer much in return. However, remember that verse 14 starts off by saying that we will be blessed and I want to suggest that blessing can come in a lot of different ways including simply the joy of living for God and bringing Him glory.

Example #1

You encounter a homeless person on the street who says they are really hungry. What will you do? (I know this example is probably used a lot, but it is still relevant. Sometimes, the best thing to do is take them somewhere to eat and pay for the meal so you know the money is being used for food.)

Example #2

You overhear a family is going through tough times and needs financial support. Maybe you aren’t particularly well off, but can you still help in some way? Could you still possibly help out and give as you are able? Maybe you could even get creative and share food, possessions, etc.?

Example #3

You have the opportunity to volunteer an hour or two each week to drive a person who is blind to the store and help them with shopping. What will you do?

Example #4

You are at school and there is a person sitting alone all the time at lunch. You know this person is an outcast. What will you do?

Example #5

You are in a position to be able to adopt a child. Would you consider it?

Example #6

You see someone with a need you know that you can meet. It could be anything. The question is will you decide to meet this need?

Now I know that sometimes there are valid reasons for not being able to do some of these things. As well, you may be saying that you might not encounter some of these examples. That may be true. However, many opportunities exist to help people out who need your help in some way. You simply need to be aware, be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, and then go out and bless other people. Remember, in the process, you are blessed as well! Have a passion for compassion!

Bible Verse:

 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  – Romans 12:13

We need to show love and care for unbelievers in need. We also need to watch out for and help one another as believers. Again, we belong to the family of God and as brothers and sisters in Christ, we should actively be seeking to help one another out whenever we see a need. Everything that we have belongs to God anyway. If this is true, shouldn’t we look to God for guidance on how we spend time, money, etc. and look to share it with others?

Until next time, enjoy your week everybody!

(What does God want you to do the next week, day, hour, moment, to bring glory to His Name?)