Love, Compassion & Action

This morning as I sat down to pray, I was reminded of a couple of verses that I read yesterday morning from 1 John 3:16-18 (NIV):

[16] “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Early on we decided to try and make these verses foundational in our life as a couple, in our pursuit of the Lord.  We have tried to live as if our money was the Lord’s money, trying to follow His direction in our giving and blessing of others, and other financial decisions.  In addition to sharing of our money, we have shared our home, our time, our things and tried to meet needs where we saw them. 

I will say that it sounds really great, even a bit romantic, until you actually have to do it.  It is amazing how the enemy and flesh work overtime to stop this type of self-less behavior.  Every time I am ready to bless someone with a gift, I immediately start thinking about what I could use the money to buy for me or my family, or the need to save for retirement.  When we have opened our house to guests, the whisper campaign of the enemy begins, accusations and temptations abound, all to try to get me to change or harden my heart, or to try and cause division between me and my honey.

While we try to be a blessing to others, the real work is always on our own hearts. It is similar to the opportunity to bless a pan-handler standing at an intersection.  Almost always, my immediate response is to  try and ignore them, or hope the light turns green quickly so I don’t have to give.   My judgment is always first to strike, and I begin to think about them as likely scamming the system, probably living well, even driving a decent vehicle, but just trying to ply on people sympathy to make a quick buck.

What if this is actually an opportunity to hear from the Lord, and to speak blessing instead of judgment? What if the Lord is working on my heart trying to get it to the point of compassion and empathy?  What if the person is really a fellow brother or sister in Christ in need, really desperate and I have the means to help them, and I don’t?  This is just one simple example.

Thinking about the body of believers that I belong to at present, how many times have I been aware of need and prayed for them, but never thought about pulling out the check-book? 

It’s funny how when I ignore someone in need and I feel a bit guilty, and it seems to arise from the pit of my stomach.  The word that was translated pity, in the NIV translation I quoted above is actually the Greek word splagchnon and it would be defined as follows:

1. bowels, intestines, (the heart, lungs, liver, etc.)
1. bowels
2. the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the Hebrews as the seat of the tenderer affections, esp. kindness, benevolence, compassion; hence our heart (tender mercies, affections, etc.)
3. a heart in which mercy resides

It seems that the pit of my stomach is something I should listen to more often!  Many times in scripture, it says that Jesus was moved with compassion and the Greek word that is used is almost always a variant of the word above.  Jesus was moved, in other words He took action!  Oh that I would learn to do the same, rather than passing judgment.

Recently we had a corporate fast at our church and while the encouragement was to fast food, the Lord led me to Isaiah 58, and His definition of fasting found there.  Here are the verses – Isaiah 58:6-7 (NIV):

[6] “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

    and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

    and break every yoke?

[7] Is it not to share your food with the hungry

    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Over the last few weeks, we have made conscious decisions to do what was described here in Isaiah.  We were conscious of the food we ate, but more so we worked on our hearts and made sure that we blessed others, that we gave of our resources, effectively sharing our “food”, giving away clothes to charity, and even making sure to spend time with our family, loving them and blessing them.

While it might not seem like much, I know my heart is different, softer and more willing to love than it was a few weeks ago.  It seems, at least to me, that this is what Lord is after, this is what John was referring to in his writing, encouraging us to love in action and truth, laying down our life for others.  It is, more often than not, just a bit of our life that we are called to share, but we are changed when we do so, allowing compassion and mercy to well up in our hearts.

Oh that I would lean into this word, and allow my heart to soften!  I want to get to the point where my first response is one of mercy and compassion, not judgment.  Lord, I want to be moved by compassion, not bound up in judgment.  Help me to see what You are doing and press into that which is on Your heart.

Amen!