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Compassion
Have you ever seen some walking down the street and thought "yuk...what a mess"?
Have you ever known anyone that you will not have anything to do with whether it be their looks, actions or for any other reason?
I will tell you straight up that that is not what Jesus would do.
-CEV- James 2:2 Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes.
-CEV- James 2:3 You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. :4 That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge. 5 My dear friends, pay attention. God has given a lot of faith to the poor people in this world. He has also promised them a share in his kingdom that he will give to everyone who loves him.
-CEV- James 6 You mistreat the poor. But isn't it the rich who boss you around and drag you off to court? 7 Aren't they the ones who make fun of your Lord? 8 You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. 9 But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.
God made each and every one of us and He doesn't make messes. A lot of times we may make a mess of ourselves but He is always there ready to fix us up again and only by God's grace are you not in some kind of mess yourself as those that you look down on.
One evening I went to get something out of my car. As I went out into the driveway, I noticed an elderly neighbor lady struggling to get her garbage can out of the gate, her dog getting out of the fence and she seamed to have a look of frustration on her face.
I walked over to her house to simply take her garbage can out to the street for her while she was getting her dog back in the fence.
She walked up to me with such a look of desperation on her face, tears in her eyes as she asked me if I thought she would be wrong in moving into a condo or an assisted living place with her husband. It really made me think.
This lady was diagnosed with cancer before Christmas and is now taking chemotherapy. Since then, her husband had surgery on his knee and during the operation had something go wrong with the anesthesia. He will never be able to drive again and the doctors said that he wouldn't ever be able to walk again either.
He has managed to start walking with a walker (Praise the Lord) but still has a steep uphill battle to fight and she is left with all of the care around the house as well as caring for her husband. Don't forget she is taking chemotherapy during all of this.
Guess what....I knew about all of this, her cancer and her husband and I had not even been over to talk to them. These are elderly people with some serious problems.
THEY LIVE RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME AND I HAVE NOT LIFTED A SINGLE FINGER TO HELP, PRAY, OR EVEN GO VISIT THEM !!!
What kind of person have i been to these people?
What kind of Christian witness have I shown in my actions?
I haven;t been a witness because I have not taken any action. It was like getting hit on the head with a baseball bat when i looked at myself. I am a disgrace to anything and everything I have ever said to anyone.
but i have news for you...
We are all that way...nothing but filthy rags in the eyes of God's and if not for his love, mercy and compassion, by Jesus having died on the cross for us, we could all be in the same boat as the neighbor lady, ready to give it all up, total desperation and very worried and unhappy.
We should all be happy that Jesus doesn't neglect our needs in the ways so many of us neglect the needs of those so close to us.
-CEV- Matthew 15:22 Suddenly a Canaanite woman from there came out shouting, "Lord and Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is full of demons." 23 Jesus did not say a word. But the woman kept following along and shouting, so his disciples came up and asked him to send her away. 24 Jesus said, "I was sent only to the people of Israel! They are like a flock of lost sheep."
-CEV- Matthew 15:25 The woman came closer. Then she knelt down and begged, "Please help me, Lord!" 26 Jesus replied, "It isn't right to take food away from children and feed it to dogs." 27 "Lord, that's true," the woman said, "but even dogs get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table." 28 Jesus answered, "Dear woman, you really do have a lot of faith, and you will be given what you want." At that moment her daughter was healed.
The Lord has always shown much compassion. If not for his compassion, we would all wind up in the pits of hell where we probably oughta belong anyway. But Jesus loves us so much that he will not do that to those who believe in Him.
He offers freedom from hell by us doing very little, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That is all it takes. Just to touch on this, salvation isnt the only gift he has to offer. You oughta check it out some time and see just what wonderful blessings he has for you according to your deeds.
There is alot more to it than that but there will be a sermon on that in the future. Way too much to tell right now.
We as a member of the human race need to start showing more compassion to all of those around us. So what if they aren't dressed the way you prefer.
You dont like the way they keep their hair? Big deal, that's tough, they are still one of God's children and you should have respect for them because of that if for no other reason.
If God can love them, why can't we?
-CEV- Matthew 18:23 This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like: One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him. 24 As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him fifty million silver coins.
-CEV- Matthew 18:25 But he didn't have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt. 26 The official got down on his knees and began begging, "Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!" 27 The king felt sorry for him and let him go free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.
-CEV- Matthew 18:28 As the official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him a hundred silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, "Pay me what you owe!" 29 The man got down on his knees and began begging, "Have pity on me, and I will pay you back." 30 But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.
-CEV- Matthew 18:31 When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had happened. 32 The king called the first official back in and said, "You're an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I said you did not have to pay back a cent. 33 Don't you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?"
-CEV- Matthew 18:34 The king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could pay back everything he owed. 35 That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don't forgive each of my followers with all your heart.
Doesn't this all sound way too familiar?
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