Moved with compassion … He had compassion on them … His heart overflowed with compassion … (Matthew 9:35; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13 – as a few examples)
Compassion was one of the primary descriptions of Jesus by those who walked with Him. Jesus was unlike other Rabbi’s who seemed to be primarily concerned with propriety, order and everything being appropriate. Whether it was a crippled person in need of healing, the woman at the well in need of acceptance, or the woman caught in adultery that needed forgiveness, Jesus was motivated by compassion.
I was thinking about compassion and expressing compassion the other day when I was looking up directions for a building in downtown Seattle on my phone. When I pulled up the map app, the option for the starting point for directions was “USE CURRENT LOCATION.” What a great description of how Jesus expects us to live out compassion. He wants us to start right at our CURRENT LOCATION.
He doesn’t expect us to change location spiritually or physically to show compassion. He expects us to show compassion from our CURRENT LOCATION. He wants us to show compassion right where we live, work and play. He doesn’t want us to get ‘more spiritual’ and then show compassion. He wants us to show compassion now. He doesn’t want us to move to another location and then start showing compassion. He doesn’t want us to take off on a ‘mission trip’ somewhere and start showing compassion. He doesn’t want us to give our money to someone else who can show compassion. He doesn’t want us to support the compassion of an organization. He wants compassion from us in our CURRENT LOCATION.
He wants us to look around and see the people in our CURRENT LOCATION who need compassion!
Who in your CURRENT LOCATION needs to be accepted just as they are? Who in your CURRENT LOCATION needs a friend? Who in your CURRENT LOCATION needs you to be praying for them? Who needs a helping hand? Who needs someone to lean on?
Don’t wait to start at some other place. Let the compassion of Jesus flow from you right now in your CURRENT LOCATION. There are people at your CURRENT LOCATION who need you to be the compassion of Jesus.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Seek Week - March 4 - 9
Sunday March 4th will start Seek Week here at SWAG. Over the last few years we have encouraged people to set aside some time during Seek Week to spend with Jesus. Usually Seek Week has been towards the very beginning of a new year. Scheduling this year pushed it further out. Interestingly enough Seek Week falls right in the midst of the traditional forty days of Lent.
Personally I am concentrating on some verses written by the Apostle Paul to the church in the city of Ephesus. These verses describe Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus and his heart for the followers of Jesus in that city.
I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:16-20 NLT)
His prayer is that God will empower people; that God will cause their roots to grow down into His love and keep them strong. That they would understand God’s love. That they would understand how absolutely amazing that love towards us is.
These verses describe my desire for each of you. I take seriously the responsibility of caring for those that Jesus has entrusted to me. Often I feel so incredibly inadequate in my ability and in my performance as a pastor. Though I am inadequate, God is adequate. God’s adequacy comes to each of us in Jesus Christ! Paul wrote that God is able to ‘accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.’
Jesus, empower your people, cause their roots to grow deep in your love. Keep us strong. Help us understand God’s love. Amen
Personally I am concentrating on some verses written by the Apostle Paul to the church in the city of Ephesus. These verses describe Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus and his heart for the followers of Jesus in that city.
I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:16-20 NLT)
His prayer is that God will empower people; that God will cause their roots to grow down into His love and keep them strong. That they would understand God’s love. That they would understand how absolutely amazing that love towards us is.
These verses describe my desire for each of you. I take seriously the responsibility of caring for those that Jesus has entrusted to me. Often I feel so incredibly inadequate in my ability and in my performance as a pastor. Though I am inadequate, God is adequate. God’s adequacy comes to each of us in Jesus Christ! Paul wrote that God is able to ‘accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.’
Jesus, empower your people, cause their roots to grow deep in your love. Keep us strong. Help us understand God’s love. Amen
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
If You Always Do What You've Always Done ...
I have been chewing on a statement that you might have heard before: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." Some say that it was Mark Twain who penned the words.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
There are areas of life where this is true. When people keep making the same choices over and over, they are destined to get the same results.
There are areas of life where this is not true, though. There are aspects of life when people make the same choices over and over, and instead of getting the same results, they get less.
Think about it in the area of finances. If I always do what I've always done, I won't always get what I always got because gas prices go up. I have to pay more to get the same amount of gas which I got before. The only way to get a lot more gas is to pay a lot more.
If I always spend the way I've always spent, I will not get what I always got because everything costs more. If I always make what I've always made, I won't get what I always got because every week my buying power is less.
In many areas of life the statement should be: "If I always do what I've always done, I'll get less or worse than I always got." Or maybe the statement should be: "If I do a little more than I've always done, I'll merely get what I've always got.”
The truth in many areas of life is actually: If I do substantially more or different than I've always done, I'll get more or different than I've always got.
I haven’t been chewing on this in relation to finances or about getting things or about bettering life. I’ve been thinking about how there is a natural deterioration in the spiritual arena. When a person’s spiritual life is left to itself, it rusts, molds, grows moss and deteriorates. It takes a certain level of attention to spiritual health just to keep from rusting and molding spiritually. It takes a greater level of attention to spiritual health to keep growing and changing. The level of attention which, at one point in life, brought growth and change eventually is the level that is needed just to keep rust, moss and mold away.
Spiritually - praying, reading, resting - are you doing what you’ve always done or are you doing different/more?
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
There are areas of life where this is true. When people keep making the same choices over and over, they are destined to get the same results.
There are areas of life where this is not true, though. There are aspects of life when people make the same choices over and over, and instead of getting the same results, they get less.
Think about it in the area of finances. If I always do what I've always done, I won't always get what I always got because gas prices go up. I have to pay more to get the same amount of gas which I got before. The only way to get a lot more gas is to pay a lot more.
If I always spend the way I've always spent, I will not get what I always got because everything costs more. If I always make what I've always made, I won't get what I always got because every week my buying power is less.
In many areas of life the statement should be: "If I always do what I've always done, I'll get less or worse than I always got." Or maybe the statement should be: "If I do a little more than I've always done, I'll merely get what I've always got.”
The truth in many areas of life is actually: If I do substantially more or different than I've always done, I'll get more or different than I've always got.
I haven’t been chewing on this in relation to finances or about getting things or about bettering life. I’ve been thinking about how there is a natural deterioration in the spiritual arena. When a person’s spiritual life is left to itself, it rusts, molds, grows moss and deteriorates. It takes a certain level of attention to spiritual health just to keep from rusting and molding spiritually. It takes a greater level of attention to spiritual health to keep growing and changing. The level of attention which, at one point in life, brought growth and change eventually is the level that is needed just to keep rust, moss and mold away.
Spiritually - praying, reading, resting - are you doing what you’ve always done or are you doing different/more?
Friday, February 10, 2012
Simply Jesus
Simply Jesus is the title of a book by the world’s leading New Testament scholar, NT Wright. Simply Jesus? Can people in 2012 know Jesus? Is there anything ‘simply’ about Jesus? More than 2000 years have passed since Jesus walked the earth, performed miracles, died and rose again. Throughout the last 2000 years innumerable volumes have been written about him. There are scores of views of who Jesus is and what he was like.
Can we completely know who Jesus is and what he was like? We almost certainly can’t know ‘completely’, but we can become more accurately acquainted with who Jesus was, and what Jesus was like, than is often believed. Jesus is not just a person imagined by broken hearted people whose stories have been elaborated on through the centuries.
Jesus is a real historical figure who walked this earth. There are records of him, and maybe as important, there are historical records of the time that he lived in. These documents have greater reliability than any writings from antiquity.
People in our part of the world are familiar with the name of Jesus. They are often not familiar with the real person of Jesus. People use the name of Jesus but most of the time they are not referring to the actual Jesus. They are referring to a view of Jesus that is an amalgamation of the varying views that they’ve come into contact with.
People sometimes say ‘the legend has grown’ when they refer to a historical figure. It is true that often the ‘legend’ does grow. This is not true of Jesus! The legend that is conveyed and referred to has shrunk instead of grown. The real Jesus is so much grander than what is believed by those who are Jesus followers, and the real Jesus’ grandness is so far above what is believed by those who are not yet Jesus followers.
Do you want to understand simply Jesus? It is possible; it just takes some digging. Dig, Dig, Dig.
Can we completely know who Jesus is and what he was like? We almost certainly can’t know ‘completely’, but we can become more accurately acquainted with who Jesus was, and what Jesus was like, than is often believed. Jesus is not just a person imagined by broken hearted people whose stories have been elaborated on through the centuries.
Jesus is a real historical figure who walked this earth. There are records of him, and maybe as important, there are historical records of the time that he lived in. These documents have greater reliability than any writings from antiquity.
People in our part of the world are familiar with the name of Jesus. They are often not familiar with the real person of Jesus. People use the name of Jesus but most of the time they are not referring to the actual Jesus. They are referring to a view of Jesus that is an amalgamation of the varying views that they’ve come into contact with.
People sometimes say ‘the legend has grown’ when they refer to a historical figure. It is true that often the ‘legend’ does grow. This is not true of Jesus! The legend that is conveyed and referred to has shrunk instead of grown. The real Jesus is so much grander than what is believed by those who are Jesus followers, and the real Jesus’ grandness is so far above what is believed by those who are not yet Jesus followers.
Do you want to understand simply Jesus? It is possible; it just takes some digging. Dig, Dig, Dig.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Aborigines and Character Building
The Bible says some important things about people having or growing in ‘character.’ Ruth is called a woman of noble character. The book of Proverbs talks about a wife of noble character. Paul writes to the Corinthian believers about ‘bad company corrupting good character.’
Character is not something people possess. Character is something that is either forged or not forged in a person’s life. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome about the development or forging of character in a person’s life. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. (Romans 5:3-4 NLT)
For 5000 years the aborigines of Australia practiced a form of ‘initiation’ or ‘right of passage’ from childhood to manhood with their young men. When a boy entered into the early years of manhood, he was taught about weapons, hunting and power. As part of the initiation process the young man was required to make his own axe. For a man the axe was a multifaceted tool. It was used for protection, hunting, gathering and building. While making the axe he was taught about the uses and the dangers of the axe. He was also instructed in the uses and the dangers of power. When the time was right, the young man would finish his axe, go on a ‘walkabout,’ and when he returned it was expected that he would be responsible with his axe and with his ‘power.’
In the late 1800’s, as the colony of Australia was being developed, the government observed that some aborigines had the necessary axe and others did not. The lack of having an axe limited their capacity for work and for providing for themselves. The government decided that they should provide each man with an axe.
Anthropologist and sociologist look back at that moment as a significant point in the collapse of the aboriginal culture. Soon violence, rebellion and crime erupted among the aboriginal people in ways never seen before.
The problem? The axe was given without the time, attention and expectations built into the young men. They were given the tool without the necessary character being ‘forged’ in their lives. They now had a weapon but didn’t know how to control and correctly utilize the power behind the weapon.
Character is part of what God is doing in each of our lives. He is at work through the tough times and through the good times, building character in our lives. Privileges, independence and power without character lead to destruction. Are you letting Jesus forge character in your life?
Character is not something people possess. Character is something that is either forged or not forged in a person’s life. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome about the development or forging of character in a person’s life. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. (Romans 5:3-4 NLT)
For 5000 years the aborigines of Australia practiced a form of ‘initiation’ or ‘right of passage’ from childhood to manhood with their young men. When a boy entered into the early years of manhood, he was taught about weapons, hunting and power. As part of the initiation process the young man was required to make his own axe. For a man the axe was a multifaceted tool. It was used for protection, hunting, gathering and building. While making the axe he was taught about the uses and the dangers of the axe. He was also instructed in the uses and the dangers of power. When the time was right, the young man would finish his axe, go on a ‘walkabout,’ and when he returned it was expected that he would be responsible with his axe and with his ‘power.’
In the late 1800’s, as the colony of Australia was being developed, the government observed that some aborigines had the necessary axe and others did not. The lack of having an axe limited their capacity for work and for providing for themselves. The government decided that they should provide each man with an axe.
Anthropologist and sociologist look back at that moment as a significant point in the collapse of the aboriginal culture. Soon violence, rebellion and crime erupted among the aboriginal people in ways never seen before.
The problem? The axe was given without the time, attention and expectations built into the young men. They were given the tool without the necessary character being ‘forged’ in their lives. They now had a weapon but didn’t know how to control and correctly utilize the power behind the weapon.
Character is part of what God is doing in each of our lives. He is at work through the tough times and through the good times, building character in our lives. Privileges, independence and power without character lead to destruction. Are you letting Jesus forge character in your life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)