His Compassion

It's been a full weekend! I had an interview Friday afternoon and got stuck in traffic forever... good time of worship! Saturday, we headed up into the mountains for the day to be with our church for the church camping trip. We played horse shoes, baseball with the kids, ultimate frisbee, etc. We also had a great time of worship... singing of Christ with one another and mixing that in with sharing what we want God to do in our heart. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. Sunday, we visited a friend's church because we had to be out by the beach for my cousin's graduation. It was fun to be part of a completely different church service. I find that we can get so stuck into the pattern of going to church and doing what we normally do that we lose sight of the One we do it for. It's always a refreshment to get away from the "normal church service" for a Sunday and remember that it is all about Him... and the specifics [most of the time] really don't matter that much. Having said this, I love my church and what we do, but it is good to remember that worship comes from the heart. We celebrated with my cousin for his college graduation and got home Sunday evening. Today, I applied for several more jobs, studied for the interview tomorrow, played volleyball with the family, enjoyed devotions with the family, etc. It has been a full weekend, but a good one.

I was reading this evening in Matthew 9 and verses 35-38 jumped out at me.

Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

So often we think about how we ought to be telling people about Christ but we just aren't. Perhaps we feel like the harvest is not plentiful... or fear rejection. God has been working in my heart to see people more how He sees them. I am not gifted in the area of evangelism... mom most definitely is. However, this does not free me from the responsibility of loving and having compassion on people. Look at the example of Christ! First of all, He saw these people... how often do we not even think about the people we "see". Once He saw them... He saw that they had no direction... no one to lead them... they were lost and desperate for help. When He saw them in need, He felt compassion for them.

I am reminded of those cars that I see every once in a while driving down the street about three or four times (going opposite ways each time)... and finally I walk outside figuring they are lost and will probably ask for help if I make myself available. How much more should I care about their eternal destiny? Am I so caught up in my life and what I am doing that I don't notice those that have no direction in life? In the least, I need to pray that God would be gracious to these people and send someone to do His work... to be His hands and feet to these individuals. While I feel that most of my personal ministry is in the area of ministering to Christians, I am still called to proclaim the gospel. I am called to have compassion on the lost. I believe that we must have compassion on the "lost"--saved or unsaved! For those of you wondering, I won't beat around the bush, I believe in eternal security. Having said that, there are some Christians out there that are very very lost! They lack godly people in their lives that are willing to go out of their way to have an impact on their life. I don't want to live my life and have no impact. God, give me eyes that are aware of the lost around me, give me a heart of compassion for them, give me a spirit of boldness to lead them as Christ would have me lead, and help me to point them to the ultimate Shepherd that leads them beside still waters and restores the soul.