Compassion: Without it you are Guilty of Hate Kelly Durant
I Jn 3:14-18
Compassion is sympathy for the suffering and a desire to help! Do something!
They say that giving a beggar a piece of bread is a civil duty, but to give him a bread with butter on it, now that is compassion! Compassion is a divine quality something that is in all cultures with a certain measure, but the strange thing is that it is also something very much lacking in most cultures today. The level of the spiritual development of a culture or people could be measured by how much compassion they have. But think about it, only Christians throughout time have proven over and over to be the ones to help when there is a need or crisis. As a Christian how much compassion do you have? How much compassion does this community have? I think it lacks a lot!
Are you the center of your universe, or is Jesus love at the center? In order to have compassion, you must have the ability to put yourself into the shoes of the other person. This takes not just a creative mind, but a willing heart! Think about what is inside of you. If you are only full of your wants, your needs, then you are self focused. You have your self as the center of your life, or at the center of the universe. But if you have Jesus at the center of your life & heart, you will have the same heart of compassion that he has, and you will be willing to help anyone, anytime, of any race, like in the story of the Good Samaritan.
Do you, to get what you want, be childlike, intimidate, and hate? Selfishness means no understanding of salvation! The verses we are studying have within their context a relationship of hate connected to the idea of refusing to help someone in need. What is the difference between an adult and a child? A child only wants to get what he wants no matter the situation and they scream to get it. Some kids, even as big as teenagers will yell to their parents, “I hate you!” just to try and get what they want from them, They do not care if they do not have the money or conditions to please them, they are just self focused. Those who hate do it when they see someone else get something they wanted, people hate it when the attention and money they wanted goes to a good cause.
Hate=Murder: not giving to others in need! In the state of Alaska, if a person s on the street with a car motor stalled, by law you must stop and pick up that person. The reason for this is that person could actually freeze to death and die in some -30 below 0 temperatures with 10 minutes! Not helping someone with a need is not only heartless and insensitive. But a real sacrifice to help someone with a need, that is a must, and people usually receive honor and praise for being loving and saving someone’s live or situation!
Only love, not hate makes you pass from death to life! What we do in this life brings us either praise or scorn from those around us, and from God too. The people who let their selves be touched by Jesus love to the point that they want to be like Him, implies they have entered into life with Him. However, hate, a which is a violent rejection, is a carnal, natural occurring human quality, but no one really admires this horrible quality. These are those who are terrorists, those that are racists and make wars, are those that bring death and suffering to others and themselves. Everyone is on one path or the other, life, or death!
Who do you hate secretly? Have you ever really tried to look deep into your heart as to why you do not like someone or somebody? You have undiscovered bitternesses, everyone does, and you need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what they are so you can be free, as hate manifests itself in bitterness. These past things separate you from the God of love. I have discovered many people secretly hate pastors, or sincere Christian leaders because they are envious of their power and influence over people. Jesus warned that if they hated Him, they will hate you also.
Love and compassion is giving your life in service to Jesus! There is no society where selfishness is really worshiped as virtue, all cultures value sacrifice to others. But sacrifice should be done in the way Jesus defined it in Matt 25, caring for the hungry, thirsty, and poor. Compare this bad example of sacrifice. Imagine how in India with the Hindu religion the tradition has been that wives will allow their selves to be burned alive with their husbands dead bodies when they are at their funerals. That is a type of sacrifice our God of love does not desire, they do this because their idea of God is sadly distorted from the truth of God. Do you see how Jesus redefines what compassion and sacrifice really should be?
By their fruits you will know them! The people that do good things for others and claim they do it for the love of our Lord Jesus, and they obviously are not seeking glory, compensation, or recognition should be honored as true. Those that show compassion can only be motivated out of love. I recall how in the community ever now and then a person may comment terrible things about someone good! This person is obviously someone who has an evil heart and does not understand how people can be sincere in doing good works, that people do good in the Salvation Army. So these bad people accuse, oh they help so they can get the Toys, or their rent paid. I recall often times some people who would volunteer and help us many days later found out that others would be accusing that they were getting their rent paid by us, and these were totally false accusations. The people who accuse falsely have never been the ones to do good works and help, have you ever noticed that?
The compassion of the world?! Satan is compassionate, in his own way, have you ever thought about that? He wants to show he is more just than God in his sharing of the goods from the rich to give to the poor. He works hard with his demons to run this worlds government systems, usurping God’s authority, and how does he do it? He establishes political systems of abusive murderous power to give some crumbs to the poor to show how he will take care of the people better than what God’s people can. Communism, the forced sharing of wealth offends God and everyone since it puts a gun in the face of those who worked to get what they have to give it to those who do nothing to deserve it. What makes them deserving of these stolen goods is their faithfulness to worhip their socialist leaders as gods for being so compassionate. Abhorrent, don’t you think?
Excuses or compassion? In the end Satan convinces people to follow corrupt systems of false hopes when God’s people are doing too little to help. With all the churches in the United States, you would think there should not be a need that the government give a check to the unemployed or sick. Christians are supposed to be taking care of each other and of others outside of the church who are suffering. In the new testament recall God’s sharing system: Acts 2:44-4544 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. If we’re not helping each other, then we are failing God, and he will accept no excuses.
Love implies action! Compassion! Think a minute, what evidence is there for you to prove you have showed compassion to someone? Could you tell me about something you have done recently, and do you have a habit of helping those in need? If you are not in action, if there are not deeds to back up your words of good wishes for others, then compassion to you is just an esoteric term, not a reality manifested in this world. It is not too late to get busy for the Lord!
The SA is known for its compassion. I probably have told you many times that I love the Salvation’s Army way of serving others. Imagine you are not just being a part of a church but a part of a massive social work with 3 million Soldiers and volunteers with thousands of shelters, rehab centers, schools, and assistance happening world-wide! For me it is the most compassionate church that exists, that is why I choose to belong to it. But our compassion is limited to each person’s willingness to express it and what you do does affects a piece of the whole picture. It makes you proud to have a good name, right? But how sad when people report that a work someone is doing nothing to help anyone!
People with compassion are full of love and not just compassion. Choose today how you are going to live, showing mercy as God shows mercy, or being hard hearted? Consider this: Proverbs 21:13 13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. God will deal with each person by how they have dealt with those he has created, your fellow man. Jesus said Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
People without love & compassion have never had a repentance! I am convinced here on how the Word connects the scripture of these verses that we have read today that those who do not love and help those in need are still full of hate and this makes them guilty before God as being a murderer. Imagine those who selfishly always only took care of themselves and never showed compassion? God will be angry with them and they will have no part in heaven! If you have the doubt that you are not full of compassion, that you are cold hearted, and you really do not care if your brother is suffering or if he, or she has a need, then come and pray ask God to break you. In heaven there will only be those who have shown compassion. The ones who have been rich and shared their riches will have rewards in heaven too. All the disciples had it, and every true authentic Christian will have testimonies of helping others too as a proof of their love for God, Jesus, and their neighbor! Now is our prayer time to ask the Lord for forgiveness if he is reminding you of sometime that you failed someone with a need. Or if the Lord has not converted your heart, then come and ask for Him to change it today!
