Hi Sinner, I hope the Lord bless you today, and guides you as you minister to the sick.
I had this in my email box this morning...
Thoughts for the Week
Mark Roth
http://www.anabaptists.org/clp/youth/
----------------------------------------------------------
This edition goes out today to 4143 subscribers. Thank you!
----------------------------------------------------------
HEALING WITH COMPASSION
(Mark 1:29-45)
EXPERIENCING COMPASSION, PART I
In my book (and in yours, no doubt) compassion rates as a
wonderful commodity. When we experience the compassion of
others, we thrive and rejoice. We want compassion. We
appreciate compassion. We wilt in the absence of compassion.
The visiting minister who put his arms around me in the midst
of my deep, crushing grief was showing compassion. The local
ministers who put their financial resources under me to bear me
up were showing compassion.
You have had your own times of receiving compassion. Were
you aware of it? I'm sure you were. But it seems that we so
easily miss some of those expressions of compassion, and our
benefactor goes unthanked. Let's be more attuned!
I must admit, though, that occasions come my way when I find
it difficult to appreciate the compassion others show me. Oh,
don't misunderstand; I don't resent the compassion. It's just
that, well, my pride and self-sufficiency get in the way. May
God help me!
Even so, I testify freely that compassion has worked in my heart
a closer "feeling" of kinship with the one who has so blessed
and encouraged me. Being on the receiving end like that gives me
tangible evidence that So'n'so is indeed on the same side with me.
So, swallow your pride and bask in the compassion others direct
your way. And be ye thankful!
EXPERIENCING COMPASSION, PART II
The first part was about experiencing compassion by being on
the receiving end. *This* part addresses the compassion
experience of those who are on the giving end. The one part of
the experience has no less blessing than the other!
By the way, just what *is* compassion anyway? When you see
and feel sorry for the crying child in the church basement, is that
compassion? Nope. Well, what if you heart just aches for that
child, and its pain at the collision with the wall is almost literally
yours, is that compassion? Closer. When all of the above is true,
and when you take that child in your arms and soothe him (and
treat the wound), and help him as best you can...because you
love him and want to bless him, that's compassion. So
compassion is more than just a feeling, it is a deed motivated by
the need and interests of another.
In the previous paragraph you have not only the definition of
compassion, but also its motivation and purpose. Compassion has
nothing to do with what I, as the compassionate one, get out of it.
Can anyone be compassionate? Probably not. The Christian is the
one best fitted for compassion. But I suspect anyone who has
ever received and truly appreciated compassion is able to give it.
The fact is, those who have received it have a debt to pay...by
showing others compassion.
EXPERIENCING COMPASSION, PART III
Having experienced God's compassion *to* me, I must
experience God's compassion *through* me.
Love first. Human love tends to be a natural response to
someone else's love or favor. God's love doesn't wait; He loves
first. He won't (and didn't) sit around waiting for someone to
love Him so then He could respond with His love. No way! "We
love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). "Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us" (1 John
4:10a). And that is precisely how God wants to work His love
through us toward those about us.
Love actively. For many folks, love is a noble concept, an
oh-so-nice feeling. God's love gets beyond the moving of the
senses and the theorizing of the mind. God's love acts. An
extremely well-known verse shows us the active dimension of
God's love: "For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John
3:16). Matthew 14:14 doesn't use the term *love* but it
definitely demonstrates it and its action: "And Jesus went forth,
and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward
them, and he healed their sick." God doesn't want us to sit back
in self-satisfied "accomplishment" at our internal churnings of
love, empathy and compassion. He wants us moved to action!
Love sacrificially. Natural love may well move us to give up
something for another. Provided we can manage without it. Or
we have grown weary of it. Or we have something better. God's
love moved Him to sacrifice. And He chose His absolute best for
that sacrifice. No left-overs, second-rate stuff or useless trinkets
when God sacrifices for the objects of His love! He "sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10b).
Sometimes we sing, "Give of your best to the Master." That's
good. How often do we live, "Give of your best to another"?
That's love.
-------------------------------------------
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO TWO OR MORE FRIENDS!
-------------------------------------------
Thanks for being a subscriber to "Thoughts for the Week"!
Mark Roth
----------------------------------------------------------
A way in which you may help support "Thoughts for the Week"
If you're going to buy at eBay, Amazon.com, or Travelocity,
please use my gateways!
http://www.anabaptistbooks.com/services/my-ebay/
http://www.anabaptistbooks.com/services/amazon/
http://www.GodsPost.com/travel.html
----------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe:
thoughts4week-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
