I like to reflect, every now and then, on myself. I know, I know, it sounds incredibly selfish. Maybe it is, but it is usually painfully insightful.
I find it can become exceptionally painful when I frequently discover the same flaw, or area of lacking. This is the case with compassion.
We all have a bent. We all tend to lean one way or the other on just about everything. My bent, in this instance, happens to be towards fundamentalism, and I mean that in the worst way. I tend to applaud truth, and honesty, and forthrightness, while allowing compassion, grace and mercy to slip quietly to the wayside. It’s not that truth, honesty, and forthrightness are wrong, I really do believe they need to be taught, applied and used far more often than is currently the case. But without compassion, grace and mercy taught, applied and used, right along side of those things, it just becomes hypocritical, Pharisaical, uselessness.
With that said, I must tell you that God is amazing. He is taking my shriveled, cold, dead heart and revitalizing it, right in front of my eyes. He’s showing me, little by little, how to see the world through His eyes. He’s showing me how He desires that ALL men would come to Him and receive eternal life, He’s showing me how He wants the poor, hungry and needed to be taken care of, by ME. He’s showing me that I am a part of His plan for the redemption of this fallen, broken world, and I’m doing worse than just sitting on the sidelines by not having His compassion towards fellow humans.
He’s breaking me of my judgment, He’s breaking me of my arrogance, He’s breaking me of my false righteousness, and reminding me that it was only by His free gift, and His work, and His power that I ever received His salvation in the first place.
He’s teaching me what grace means all over again. And I’m loving it. It hurts sometimes, but I’m loving it.
My prayer, my desire, my goal is to be filled with the unQuenchable compassion that God has for this world. And to do far, far more than just blog about it, or even only pray about it. The call is, the call has always been, to do it. So I ask that you pray for me, that you show grace to me when I fail at this, so that I could be pointed in the right direction, that maybe you would join me in seeking to do the next right thing. Feed the hungry, provide for the poor, offer the hope of Christ to the despairing, and the truth of His word to the deceived.
