Articles
EXTENDING GODLY COMPASSION
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.” –Matthew 9:36-38
As you listen to our final lesson on Jonah this morning you’ll find that we will end on the topic of God’s compassion toward the lost and repentant. God’s compassion must also be our compassion. The lesson, as well as this article, will help us put a practical plan in place to extend God’s compassion to our neighbors. Having godly compassion means seeing the needs of people before seeing the differences in people. May God help us as we strive to bring the lost to Him.
- Godly compassion for this city will lead us to reach out. We will see lost souls and we will invite them. We will speak about God. We will do more than just live a godly life. We must open our mouths and declare our love for Jesus, share the good news about Jesus, and invite them to talk about the Bible with us and come to worship with us.
- Godly compassion for this city will mean we will give others latitude. We must understand that people we do not know will come here. People will come who do not know the decorum. People will come who do not know how we do things or the “rules” we think we have. We must remember a very important point. This is not your church or my church. This is God’s church. This is one tool God has given us to reach this city. When we stop thinking about the way things should go and how people are acting a certain way or doing certain things and start thinking about having compassion for the soul, then we will afford more latitude as we try to reach people. We will teach people the God-given laws and order. We should not impose our personal judgments on people who need to hear the gospel. If so, we will drive people (souls) away from the gospel simply because they are not how we want them to be. Compassion gives time to the lost to learn God’s truth and come to repentance.
- Godly compassion for this city means we will understand that grace is for all… not just us. Too often we think that we are sinners, but they are SINNERS. Their sins are BIGGER than my sins because I sinned, but at least I'm in the Lord. Foolishness! We will always look better to ourselves when comparing ourselves to other people we choose to look down on. We think that we can have grace, but others are too evil for grace. We may not think it, but it can be reflected in our actions. Grace is for all, regardless of how morally filthy a person may be. We must proclaim the message of repentance to all people in all conditions. We must disregard any comforts, any presuppositions and any prejudices that are coming in-between us serving others the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God desires that we all have compassion for the lost of this world and that compassion would move you and me enough to seek God's help in reaching them. Let us take time today to pray for God's work to be prosperous here in our neighborhoods and in others. May the Lord find us reaching out in your own field where we live for His harvest. You can make a difference as you are faithful where you are right now.
