God knows what we're made of

This was encouraging to me. This morning I was reading in Psalm 103, and I came across these verses:

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, (most translations say something like, "He knows our frame")
he remembers that we are dust. (NIV)

I've been struggling lately with feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, and it was encouraging to remember that God made me, so He knows what I'm made of, what I can handle (nothing--what can dust do?), and He's compassionate enough to help me through. WOW! What a God!

Eric

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

Insights from the M-Team leaders

At our meeting tonight, the M-Team leaders came up with an interesting list.

We were asking how M-Teams contribute to the discipleship of students. What can students learn through ministry teams better than through other formats (sermons, small group discussions etc.)?

Here was the list:

- They learn that they can serve God in other ways than just preaching, and that they can worship him through other talents than just singing.

- They learn how to work together as a team.

- They learn to accept criticism for the sake of excellence.

- They have the chance to experience God working through them supernaturally to bless others.
(We all agreed that we had found such experiences to be life changing.)


Any comments?
Kevin M