Compassion without worry
In a quiet time earlier this week I read Matt 20:29-34. There, it says that Jesus healed two blind men because he was "moved with compassion".
I have been thinking about my own motivations for ministry. Do I do it because I am moved with compassion?
I have to confess that sometimes my reasons are much more selfish than that. I do spiritual things because of how it will look or how they will make me feel.
Other times, I choose to serve because it's the right thing to do.
That's better, but it still isn't fully what God wants from me.
Just serving by my actions with no actual emotional connection to those I serve is at best a sterile kind of love. If I am to follow in Jesus' footsteps, I need to open myself up emotionally to the needs of others, to really care about their lives. (Sometimes, of course, we have to serve even when we don't feel like it.)
The difficulty for me is that when I start caring, I start worrying. I seem to be able to hurt for others or to rejoice in God, but not to do both at once! I think I must be focusing on their needs from a merely human perspective, thinking that it is I myself who must have the answer, instead of seeing every need as an opportunity for God to show his love for them.
So my prayer this week is: God, teach me to feel compassion for others based on trust and joy in you.
Some connected Scriptures: Romans 12:15; 1 Cor 13:3; 2 Cor 1:7; 2 Cor 4:5; 1 John 3:17-18
Also, Romans 12:8 talks about showing "mercy with cheerfulness".
Kevin M
I have been thinking about my own motivations for ministry. Do I do it because I am moved with compassion?
I have to confess that sometimes my reasons are much more selfish than that. I do spiritual things because of how it will look or how they will make me feel.
Other times, I choose to serve because it's the right thing to do.
That's better, but it still isn't fully what God wants from me.
Just serving by my actions with no actual emotional connection to those I serve is at best a sterile kind of love. If I am to follow in Jesus' footsteps, I need to open myself up emotionally to the needs of others, to really care about their lives. (Sometimes, of course, we have to serve even when we don't feel like it.)
The difficulty for me is that when I start caring, I start worrying. I seem to be able to hurt for others or to rejoice in God, but not to do both at once! I think I must be focusing on their needs from a merely human perspective, thinking that it is I myself who must have the answer, instead of seeing every need as an opportunity for God to show his love for them.
So my prayer this week is: God, teach me to feel compassion for others based on trust and joy in you.
Some connected Scriptures: Romans 12:15; 1 Cor 13:3; 2 Cor 1:7; 2 Cor 4:5; 1 John 3:17-18
Also, Romans 12:8 talks about showing "mercy with cheerfulness".
Kevin M
posted by LIGHT Leaders at 11:43 AM
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