Tag Archives: love in action

Have a Heart!

 

Have a Heart!

Here’s how it all began

A businessman was called away to attend a critical meeting in a neighboring city. Because it was not very far away, he decided to drive versus fly.  As often is the case in car travel, he decided to stop at a familiar rest area along the way.  Unfortunately, during that stop, he was robbed and brutally beaten while exiting his car.

As he laid on the concrete, two travelers like himself stopped, but when they noticed him bleeding on the ground, retreated back into their cars and quickly drove away.  Finally, a traveler pulled alongside him and seeing his situation, came to his aid.  This last traveler loaded the businessman into his car and took him to the nearest hospital.

Does this story sound familiar? This is my 21st century version of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37.  The context for Jesus’ teaching was the question posed to Him concerning loving others and defining who is one’s neighbor?   Who are we to love or have a heart for?

I will use this familiar text to begin our study on compassion.  What is compassion and why is it important for us to express it to others?

What’s it all about?

Dr. Luke’s story, sad to say, is not unfamiliar in our society today.  We’ve heard stories about crowds who witnessed harm to another person right in front of them but chose to turn their head or back on the situation.

On a broader scope, we see social injustices and human needs accelerate in our cities.  Homelessness, food insecurities, and economic disparities, are all too familiar examples of where society has figuratively, turned their back.  Why?  What are we missing?  Do we have a heart? Where is our compassion?

Compassion by any other name

There is much confusion as to the difference between pity, empathy, sympathy, and compassion. Perhaps because we tend to use these nouns to describe our reaction to pain and suffering.  While these words are close cousins, they are not, however, synonymous with one another.

While there are broader details around the meaning of these emotions, I will try to be as simple as I can, for the purpose of this teaching.

    • Pity. We acknowledge a person’s suffering.  “I really feel sorry for those who loss their life in the earthquake.”
    • Empathy. We understand what the person is feeling. “I felt the same way when I loss my job.”
    • Sympathy. We feel what a person is feeling. “I was also harassed during high school.”
    • Compassion. We are willing to relieve the suffering of another. “I will help you end your pain.”

Authors studying these emotions, find that placing them on a continuum helps us better understand their differences including the key factors that affect our response to human suffering and pain, i.e., effort, understanding, and engagement.

Compassion is the feeling of sorrow or pity excited by the suffering or misfortunes of another.

Compassion is made up of two words: “com” which means with or together; “pati” which means to suffer.  Together one suffers with another.

What’s our response?

When we view the misfortune of others on social media, are we moved to sorrow or pity?  As we look at famines and wars in countries thousands of miles from us, what is our emotional response?  Sympathy?  Does your response change, based on the specific situation or person?  What moves us from pity to compassion?

I close with a few quotes on compassion to help us understand it is needed more than ever for what afflicts us in the 21st century. What does it take for us to have a heart?

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness. Mother Teresa

When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection or compassionate action.  Daniel Goleman

Compassion is an action word with no boundaries. Prince

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion. Psalm 111:4

Perfecting Love

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 (NIV)

Entering into this holiday season, WordBytes has shared two mindsets that will help us understand what really makes this time of the year special—relationships and gratitude.  This shift in thinking requires that we look beyond ourselves to more intentional expressions of kindness to others.  We close this series on preparing the heart for the holidays with our last mindset, which Paul describes as the “bond of perfection” (Col. 3:14)—the thing that holds everything together—love.

The first Bible verse a child usually learns is “God is love.”  As that child grows, his understanding of God’s love is expanded by personally observing acts of kindness in the world.  How does God disseminate His perfecting love into the world?

God loves us first.   “We love him, because he first loved us(1 John 4:19).   God is the source of love and therefore, He is the starting point of love’s entrance into the world.   God’s love for us began in eternity when He gave thought to man.  He created man His own image.  That endowment was given to no other creature of God’s making.  God gave of Himself—His own breathe (Gen. 2:7).  He gave man His essence including freewill.  He then blessed them and gave them dominion over the whole of creation (Gen. 3:27, 28).

We love God back.   “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Once we receive the revelation of God’s love for us (Ep. 1:17), it becomes possible for us to return God’s love to Him.  When we love God, He comes to live in us through the Holy Spirit (further evidence of His love).  We return God’s love through our obedience to His commandments (1 John 5:3) and our willingness to serve others (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

We love others like God.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another(1 John 4:11).  Jesus was asked by a devious lawyer, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matt.22:35-40).  His response reflected His Father’s heart—love God first, others second.   God’s love is perfected in us as we love others more than ourselves (1 John 4:12, 17).   “Perfected” (teleioō) means to reach a goal or to be complete.  As believers love others like God, they begin to reach their goal of spiritual maturity and become effective ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20).

 We love God together.  “Herein is our love made perfect…because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17).  After Jesus washed His disciples feet (John 13:1-20), He gave them a new commandment that they love one another.  “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).  The greatest witness to God’s love is how believers care for one another “in community”.  It is not the geographic area that I’m speaking of, nor denomination, nor the universal church.  God’s love in community is authentic fellowship with other believers, experiencing true joy from being in each other’s presence.  As we love God together in community, we show how the love of God looks in the “real” world.

God’s love released into the world bears resemblance to a large stone dropped into a quiet lake.    Upon entering the motionless water, the stone creates a series of circular ripples that flow in all directions, outward from its initial source.  That’s how God’s love enters the world.  God is the Rock (He first loved us) and we are the resulting ripples created by the impact of His love—returning His love to Him, to others, and in community.

Powerful relationships and gratitude in action spring forth from God’s perfecting love.  As we prepare our hearts for the holidays, let’s exchange the worldview of “holiday cheer” with “God’s gift” of love and good will toward men.  God’s gifts will continue to return great joy and peace throughout the year and for years to come.

SELAH:  Read 1 John 4:7-16, “The Source of Love”.  In your first reading, make a note of the “words or phrases” that catch your attention. Read it a second time.  Feel free to use a different translation or paraphrase; list “the emotions” you feel in your reading.  (Awareness of Feelings).  Then read the text a final time and ask Jesus to share what is your “invitation for the day” from Him.  An invitation is a “personal” message, instruction, or encouragement JUST FOR YOU (versus a general application of Scripture).

 

 

 

Gratitude in Action

“Ho, Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters, And you who have no money, Come, buy, and eat.

Yes come, buy wine, and milk, without money and without price.”  lsaiah 55:1 (NKJV)

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving 2017, it is an appropriate time to consider not only what we are thankful for but also, how we show our thankfulness? ln other words, how will we express our gratitude? American writer, Gertrude Stein, offers this view of gratitude: “Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.” I agree! Therefore, I challenge you to move beyond quiet thankfulness to Christ-activated gratitude.

Gratitude is a noun that expresses the quality of being thankful and showing readiness to return kindness. This Thanksgiving, we will reflect on many kindnesses shown to our families and to us individually.  As Christ-followers, we are morally obligated to return those acts of kindnesses to others. These opportunities may come to us through individual requests or through needs we personally have identified. “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).

Gratitude has also been described as a kindness awakened by a favor received. God has given us great favor. ln Isaiah 55, God is inviting sinners to come and receive the abundant gift of eternal life that is only possible through acceptance of Him.  The sinner is encouraged to seek the Lord while He may be found-to call upon Him while He is near (verse 6).  This invitation is a reflection of God’s love and kindness toward sinner man.

Even today, God invites us to “come, buy, and eat without money and without price.” What God offers is not physical provision for the body (water, wine, and milk) but eternal nourishment for the soul. God’s favor of salvation should awaken kindness within us (2 Peter 1.5, 7) that will result in compassion for others.

Hunger and homelessness are destroying our communities; hopelessness and despair are stealing the dreams of our nation. This holiday, search for opportunities to “give the gift that keeps on giving”—human kindness. This year instead of giving clothing, gift cards, or electronics, give the gift of gratitude in action.

SELAH:  What is standing in the way of you showing “gratitude in action”?  Read and meditate on Luke 17: 11-19 to help you express gratitude in action.