Day 252: Compassion from the Lord

Isaiah 55:7

Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. (NLT)

let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.(ESV)

I wanted to give two different translations because one breaks the scripture down in layman's terms while the other uses the word compassion. That’s what I want to discuss today, the compassion of God. But first let’s define the word itself.  

Compassion-a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

The ESV translations describes this compassion as mercy, so let’s define that as well.

Mercy-compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence; an act of kindness, compassion, or favor:

The door of forgiveness is always open. I started out with a vocabulary lesson because I need you to grasp this. I need you to understand, how God’s mercy has led us to where we are today. In the Scripture He is telling us that the door of forgiveness is always open. That when we turn to the Lord He will have mercy on us, or he will show compassion towards us. He’s saying turn to me from your wicked ways and I will have compassion on you.

I love that God says, all we have to do is turn from our wicked ways and He will have compassion on us and pardon us. He’s not telling us to be perfect or anything like that, He’s saying turn from your wicked ways, and I’ll handle the rest. When I look at the definition of compassion I am immediately drawn to the part of the passage that says, “Accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate suffering”. So when I think of compassion, I think of how amazing God is, He doesn’t want us to suffer, so He will pardon our sin so that we will not have to. I’m not sure if you know but living a life of sin, or a life away from God is a life of struggle. Sin carries such misfortune and shame. We as a people were  stricken by this misfortune since the fall (in Genesis when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree). God looks at us, His children and He cannot help to watch us suffer. Rather than watch us suffer He is stricken by the strong desire to alleviate our suffering, to put an end to our pain. All we have to do is turn from our wicked ways. What that means is turning from the very things that are killing us, turning from the things that causes our soul to struggle and toil within us. Until we turn from our wicked ways we will continue to suffer. However we do not have to. Sometimes we choose to suffer because we feel like we need to be punished. That’s the exact opposite of grace. I have come across people who feel that they deserve to suffer. Shame has gotten a hold of their heart and they feel that they are not worthy of compassion. They feel like they have to suffer their time to make it up to God. Shame and guilt has no home in our hearts. God does not desire for us to walk through life carrying the burden of guilt and shame. As a matter of fact He tells us to give those burdens to Him. When He said that He didn’t mean half of the burdens He meant all of them. We are not meant to carry some burdens. We’ll easily give Him the burden of worry, the burden of pain, but why is it so hard to let go of our guilt and shame? We act as if God cannot handle them when it’s really us who cannot handle it. So why not turn away from our wicked ways and give all of those burdens over to God.. No matter what you have done in your past, it is not God’s will that you continue to suffer.

All this to say, do not allow yourself to be condemned. KNow that the door of forgiven is always open, god wants to forgive us because He does not want us to suffer. We are not meant to suffer because of our past, if we’re going to suffer at least let it be about something in the present day and time. The compassion of God is beautiful and we cannot help but to be moved by it. He loves us so much. He wants us to live a life free of suffering and that means free of sin, so He will pour out His grace upon us, pardoning us, and allowing His compassion to spill out all over us. It’s compassion that got us where we are today. Without it we would continue to suffer in our sin and never knowing what life really is. We are not overcome by sin because Jesus overcame sin.

Response/Prayer Time

Continue this conversation and discussion. Respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God, thank Him for His grace and mercy and walk with Him all the days of your life. Take the time to talk to and have a conversation with god. Pray in whatever way you feel led. If you feel the need to turn away from your wicked ways. If you’d like to give your life to Christ, I’d like to give you the opportunity to do so right now.

your life to Him.

If that’s you, if you want to make that decision today, pray this prayer with me.

“Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sins and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing Day or Evening! If you made the decision to follow Christ, know that all the angels in heaven are rejoicing! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 253!

Day 188: Whose Job Is It?

Galatians 6:2

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

John 15:12

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

Luke 3:11

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

The big question today is, whose job is it to know when our neighbor is in need, and more importantly whose job is it to act on our brother or sister’s behalf?

Before answering that question I want you to refer to the scriptures above but also to the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

The statement that stands out to me the most in that passage is in verse 33. It says, But a Samaritan as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

Compassion - a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

The prefix com- means “with”, “together”, “in association”.

The thing about compassion is, it is about our feelings toward another person. It’s not about us, it’s when our heart breaks for someone else, or rejoices for another person. Compassion is not about us, it is about our neighbor.  With that being said, where is our compassion for one another? What happened to good Samaritans? I know there are many out there, we have to step up. All of us should be like this good Samaritan. We have let our communities be so divided, and the world is filled with so much hate that we are letting our brothers and sisters hurt and die because we don’t like them, or we don’t agree with their lifestyle or it’s not our problem or responsibility. If not ours whose responsibility is it? We have allowed our selfish judgements cloud our ability to be empathetic, and it is ridiculous.

It would be great to note that Jews and Samaritans in that time did not get along, like at all. This is a rivalry that dated back to times of Joseph, centuries have passed and this battle is still standing. We can assume that the hurt man was Jewish because he was traveling from Jerusalem. But it also great to note that a Jewish priest passed him by.

Here’s what happened in a nutshell. Israel divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria, the southern kingdom was captured by Babylon. Both kingdoms were taken into captivity. Jews in the northern Kingdom began to worship the idols brought over by the foreigners, along side God.  Seventy years later after being held in captivity,  a remnant of 43,000 was permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. However the Samaritans who now inhabited the Northern kingdom ‘vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to re-establish the nation’. The full-blooded, monotheistic (serving one God) Jews detested mixed marriages and the worship of their northern cousins. For this reason the Jews and Samaritans have hated each other for centuries.

I tell you the backstory to all this because in the story of the Good Samaritan, he was not concerned that this man was a Jew and that he was supposed to be at battle with him. It didn’t matter because his compassion for this hurting man was more important, it didn’t matter that he was a samaritan. It mattered that he was a man that needed help. Which brings me back to my original question,  whose job is it to know when our neighbor is in need, and more importantly whose job is it to act on our brother or sister’s behalf? It is our job, it is our responsibility to be there for our brothers and sisters in need. To have the same compassion for others that Jesus has for us. It does not matter who the person is, what lifestyle they are living, or whether we like them or not, our compassion for others must be bigger than our differences. If we see someone in need it is our job to do what we can to help. There are too many people in need and hurting for us to walk pass and ignore it, or pretend we don’t see it. What if the shoe was on the other foot? We’d want someone to help us, The bible teaches us to treat others as we want to be treated.

Let’s get to the point where we hold so much compassion in our hearts for our neighbors. That’s how we will be united as a community. When our compassion for one another forces us to put our differences aside and be there, lend a helping hand. When our compassion for one another becomes bigger than our differences, that’s when we will start to make progress. We have to look away from ourselves and our own selfish desires and selfish rules and beliefs and see someone else. Compassion will unite us.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Talk to God about what we discussed today. Ask him to give you compassion for His people your neighbors, Talk to Him about putting those differences aside, whatever they may be, and be united with our brothers and sisters.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 189!

Day 66: The Character of God

This week we will dive into the character of God. We often have this image in our heads that God is some unapproachable, angry, commanding being. But that is not true, He is quite the opposite there is so much to Him that we need to learn and understand but first we have to get past our assumptions of who he is, so that we get to know Him.

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

First thing to know: God is love. His character is love.

The scriptures tells us that God is love, then goes on to explain what love is. Knowing that God is love we can take all those attributes and know that they come from a God who is kind, patient and loving. The love of God is so sweet, and beautiful. We must look at God that same way. Knowing that even though He does get angry, it is never permanent, His love for us is greater than anger. God is the most loving being in the universe. How did we get from that to viewing Him as an angry old guy who doesn’t want us to enjoy life. We have it all wrong, He is anything but resentful, and judgemental, He is compassionate, kind, merciful, full of grace. God is our father, we have to treat Him like one. Everything He does, He does out of love. We have to stop listening to people tell us that if we don’t obey a set of rules God will be angry at us.

We as Christians tend to talk a lot about sin and punishment. But we forget about grace and mercy.

I went to a church where the pastor always told us to either do something a certain way or we are going to hell. Being new to my faith I believed it. I started to view God as a being that I should fear. And I did, I thought God to constantly be judging me and waiting for me to sin so that He could punish me. Everything I did was so that I would not be punished or go to hell. I was so wrong.  

-Dyamond

Fear- reverential awe, especially toward God:

We talk about the fear of God, as if we are to really fear Him in a sense of what He will do to us. This causes us to not give our all to Him. We cannot have a relationship with God is we are afraid to speak to Him. It’s hard to genuinely love someone when you are constantly afraid of what they will do to you. When the bible speaks of the fear of God, it is to mean, respect, gratitude, standing in awe of who He is. It is rooted in love. The fear of God isn’t about worrying about what God will do to us if we don’t obey, it is more about loving Him so much, and having so much gratitude and respect for Him that we don’t want to disobey Him. Or we don’t want to sin against Him because we know it will separate us from Him. Fear rooted in love, it sounds crazy but when we think about it in a biblical sense it makes sense.

God loves us so much that He is in constant pursuit of our heart, He went through drastic measures to have us near HIm again, we are His children, His babies. He holds us in His arms like a father holds his newborn child. We have to break down that wall that we put between ourselves and God, and dive into who He really is. Dive into intimacy with Him. Dive into a relationship with Him, so that we can understand His character, and see past our own assumptions and get to know God for who He really is.

Reflection

1. How do you view God?
2. Is God a scary being to you?
3. How have you been told to view God?

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide you prayer. Remembering that God is love and knowing the characteristics of love. Ask God to show you His character, to show you who He truly is. Ask HIm to take away the assumptions and see Him for who He is.

I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 67!

Day 62: How Far Will You Go (Part 3)

As we bring this small series to an end, I want to talk about loving others, and how far we will go to show someone that they are love, not only by us but by Christ as well.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is the story of paralyzed man who was carried to the roof, and let down so that He could get His healing from Jesus. These men could have kept walking and ignored this man, but instead they decided to do everything in their power to get him to Jesus. When they couldn't get through the door, they went to roof and started drilling a hole. Not only did they do that but they carried him up to the roof, and lowered him into the house. When they couldn’t find a way, they made a way. That’s love, only love will make you do something like that.

Luke 5: 18-19

18 Some men took a man who was not able to move his body to Jesus. He was carried on a bed. They looked for a way to take the man into the house where Jesus was. 19 But they could not find a way to take him in because of so many people. They made a hole in the roof over where Jesus stood. Then they let the bed with the sick man on it down before Jesus.

Are we willing to spend our time helping others, making sure they get what they need?

There are a couple of other stories I’d like to point out as well.

Acts 4: 32-37

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

The people in this community made sure that everyone had what they needed. That meant giving up their own possessions, and sacrificing what they had to make sure that no one was in need. Sometimes we have to be willing to give up something for others, and not expect anything in return. That is one way to love our neighbor, to take care of them when they are in need. To make sure that they are okay. We are supposed to love one another as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31).

Luke 10:25-37

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Jesus gives us the perfect example of what it means to love our neighbor time and time again. He also shows us what it means to love our neighbors. When we learn to love like Christ and use that love towards others we are showing people what it means to know the love of God.

1 John 3:18

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Reflection

1. How can you improve the way you love people?
2. Are you willing to take that extra step or mile, sacrifice, or take that detour for the sake of your brothers and sisters in Christ?
   
   
   
   

Prayer Time

Allow you answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ak God to help you show love to His people, to love them the way He loves. Take the time to pray for your brothers and sisters and lift them up in prayer. Thank God for them, and the opportunity to love them.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening, make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 63!

Day 57: The Front Lines

Mark 16:15

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Most Christians are not going to be pastors, or worship leaders, we go to church, we volunteer at church, and we serve but our platform is not the church. I hear a lot of Christians implying that we are to live in the church. They tell us that we are to separate ourselves from the secular, and the worldly things. Being secular does not always mean that you are in sin, When we think about the world secular we automatically think of music, and the lifelong debate on whether christians should listen to secular music or not. We automatically think of the artist who thank God in their acceptance speeches, but there music is so far from the message of Christ. We feel the need to respond to celebrities who open up about their faith, as if they need our approval to give their lives to Christ. We think of anything that does not have to do with the church, or religion, which many times it isn’t. However, that does not mean that Christians cannot be in a secular atmosphere, as many of us are everyday. We must use the platform we have been given to spread the gospel, to glorify God and lead others to Him

Matthew 5: 13-15

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Christ tells us that we are the salt and the light of the world, but many Christians have taken that to mean that we are the salt and the light of the church. I think of young people specifically when I think of this subject, we are the generation that has seen the growth of the contemporary church. We have broken traditions, and made the choice that Jesus is more important than religion and rules. Church has become less about what we wear, denominations, or positions and more about experiencing God and having a genuine, intimate relationship with Him. We are the generation that doesn’t worry about the looks of someone but we are concerned with their heart. Beyond that we have learned to glorify God in our field, knowing that we have been called to different places and paths. We know that not all of us will be pastors, or work in a church, but we will occupy the space God has given us.

Jesus told the disciples to go out into all the world and proclaim the gospel, not just to the Christians or the nice people. He told them to go out into all the world. That means they probably had to go into some places that the pharisees and scribes refused to go. They had to get their hands dirty in order to deliver the message of Christ to the people. They had to go outside of their comfort zones, and outside of the circle of religion and christians, they had to go to the non-believers, the pagan nations. If we are here to spread the word of God throughout the world, we cannot do it by staying inside the walls of the church. Church is our place of fellowship, where we can worship with our fellow believers; but there are some people who will never walk into a church, we have to go to them. When Jesus came He did not stay in Nazareth waiting for the people to come to Him, He went out to the people.  Jesus ate at the houses and sat in the presence of many sinners, washing the feet of sinners, and sitting at the table and having dinner with sinners. We make the mistake of thinking that being a good Christian means that we cut ourselves off from the reach of anyone who sins more openly than we do. We think that we have to sit at the table with the Christians and fellowship amongst ourselves like an exclusive club. The problem with that is, no one is coming out saved, because everyone at the table has already given their life to Christ, If you place ten Christians in a room with one hundred nonbelievers, most, if not everyone in that room will have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many will have given their life over to Christ. That’s what it’s about, this is why it is imperative that we have Christians impacting the world outside of Church. We talk about people being famous, and the media, and things that run the world as we know it.

As an actress who is also a Christian I am often asked if I want to stick with doing only Christian movies, and sometimes people are shocked that my answer is no. Besides for the obvious reason that most Christian movies are corny and terrible, there is another reason. I want to be a successful film actress, I am not completely opposed to doing Christian films, but when I think of it, these films are often only for Christians, only for people who know and understand the bible. It is usually separate from the world we are supposed to be bringing the gospel to.  Which brings me to my point that if anyone should be on the front lines of any industry it should be Christians. From doctors, to lawyers, teachers, artists, scientists, the media, military, politics, journalism, math, management, pastoral, music, logistics, etc whatever it may be. We must use whatever platform we have been given to reach God’s people. Showing people that it is about the lifestyle we lead as we dedicate everyday of our lives to Christ.

-Dyamond  

The scripture says that we are the salt of the earth. In that time salt was used to preserve food (most likely a lot of fish) so that it would not go bad, seeing that they had no refrigerators. If that salt lost it’s saltiness, then all the food would go bad. It would start to smell, and everything would be a trainwreck. That is what we are to the world, we are the salt that preserves this world, we as Christians are here to keep the world fresh, and preserved. We are here to share the good news of Christ so that the world does not spoil with sin. We are here to shed a light in the dark places. We have the light of Christ in us, let’s not hide it. We should bring it to all the world, not just the Christians.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

Take the time to think and reflect on the position or place God has you, and what He has called you to. How can you use the gifts you have been given to occupy the space that you are in? Talk to God about what being the salt and the light of the world means. Ask God to help you reach outside of your comfort to send the message of the Gospel to His people. Open your heart and gifts to God and allow Him to use you as a vessel to bring His truth to the nations.

I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Enjoy your Saturday. Share this with someone and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 58!