Posts Tagged ‘mercy’

Compassion

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

How many times do we find ourselves in a situation, and think, “I deserve this. I brought it on myself,” and find ourselves ashamed to ask for help and strength from God?

I know I have felt this way.  Because of failure, sin, or downright ignorance I get myself into a tight spot, and feel like I should not receive help from God because I knew better, or at least should have.

It is easier to accept that God is merciful and will forgive us, but it is sometimes hard to believe that He wants to aid us after our own mistakes.

That is when we need to realize and remember the compassion of God.  Psalm 145:8 (NKJV) states, “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,     Slow to anger and great in mercy.”  Also we find in Lamentations 3:22 (NKJV), “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.”

Just like God’s mercy, His compassion is greater than our sin, greater than our errors, greater than our flaws.  In the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) the father not only receives his wayward son, and forgives him, but also begins to take care of every need.  Even though this son had failed miserably, his father not only forgave him, looking at his repentant son through eyes of mercy, he began to provide for his son’s needs, looking at him through eyes of compassion.  The wrongs had been forgiven.  The only thing the father saw now was the need.

There is a very old song which comes to my mind, entitled “He Looked Bey0nd My Fault and Saw My Need.”  This is the compassion of God.  He forgives the fault, then deals with the need.

If you believe in God’s mercy, and have faith in His ability, then trust in His compassion in your time of need, even if it was caused by your own doing.  He has not changed, and wants to meet you at that point of need.

Be blessed and have a great day.

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Love

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I’m not always pleased with the way I act.

My own behavior sometimes upsets me (after the fact) and I am not always so pleased with myself.

Often I have wondered how God could “put up with me.”  Over the course of time I have been inconsistent, rebellious, and angry at times.  I have been impatient, selfish, and prideful as well. (See Romans 8:8 to see where I am coming from on this. But don’t stop here, please!)

Sometimes when discussing my shortcomings and some of the behaviors and events produced by them, people have said these things were “not really so bad.”  To me it did not feel that way.  I was disappointed with myself, frustrated with myself, and was really torn inside at my failures.

It is very difficult to feel approval and validation when one doesn’t even approve of one’s self.

However, we can also understand that there is an infinite and unconditional love that comes from God.  It is why He is merciful and patient with us when we fail.   When my heart is broken over my failures, it is because I feel like I have betrayed that great love.  And it is that great love that does not let go of me, and leads me straight to Him.

Romans 5:8 tells us that this great love is demonstrated by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.  God’s love is of a type that makes the first move. In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31) the image of the father who runs to meet his returning son (verse 20) show us that the love of God is a love that runs toward us when we turn toward Him.

Wrong behavior, wrong attitudes, and wrong thinking can all be fixed.  Our nature can be changed by the loving hand of God.  I am in no way excusing or endorsing bad behavior. (See Romans 6:1-2)  I am saying that there is love, grace, and mercy available to us, for forgiveness and to change our lives. (Roman 5:20-21, Romans 9:14-16, 1John 2:1-2, and concerning transformation Romans 12:2, which is accomplished by His grace, 2Corinthians 9:8 - which promises grace to do all things.)

I am quite thankful for the promises and love of God, not only when I fail, but every day of my life.

Be blessed, and have a great day.

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Get Out Of The Way

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Sometimes we make it difficult to get to God.

I was looking at the woman in Mark 5:24-34 who had to press her way through a crowd to get to Jesus when she wanted healed of a bleeding disorder.  There were a lot of people pressing around Jesus.  Some just wanted to be near Him.  But maybe there were those who had their own personal agendas, something they wanted, and their selfishness prevented someone with a genuine need from being able to get to the Lord.

We do this often today.  We become involved with our own agendas and our own desires so much that we refuse to acknowledge the needs of others.  We have our own issues to address, and that takes precedence over everything else.  We (or read that as I, take your pick; it pertains to each of us individually) have to look out for ourselves, develop our own relationship with God to a greater level, or (look out on this one) further our own ideas to the pastor/leader/church board.  Make the phone call, get that meeting, advance that idea.

Don’t get me wrong on this.  There is a time for those things.  Good ideas should be advanced, but not at the expense of more urgent needs.  Sometimes that is what happens, though.  God’s work gets sacrificed by us when it is the very thing we claim to be doing, even aim to be doing.

In Mark 7:7-8 Jesus addressed the advancing of traditions of men as something that was negating the commandments of God.  A personal agenda had been advanced that made it difficult for people to reach God.  It was an inhibitor of faith, and a stumbling block.

We don’t always recognize the urgency of need, as the disciples in Mark 10:46-52, when Bar Timaeus, the blind beggar, was crying out to Jesus, and the entourage that was there tried to get the beggar to be silent. (He then yelled louder, and got what he needed.  Good advice for those being blocked: Keep going after God anyway.  Make more noise, be determined, persevere.  You can make it.)

It isn’t so much a case of not doing good, but a case of not following the proper priorities in doing so.  We need to be very cautious not to diminish the needs of others while trying to follow God and do His will.  We don’t want to be so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget those around us.

We not only make it hard for others (even though it may not be our intention to do so) but we also make it difficult for ourselves. Romans 8:5-8 addresses how our own sinful human nature, our own carnality, sets us at odds with God.   Our own wrong thinking keeps us from Him.  Fortunately, His grace can set us free from that, His mercy is infinite and eternal, and if we are willing to let go of our own desires, He is not out of reach, but near to us when we reach out in faith.

When we set others as a priority, God is faithful to make sure we are taken care of as well.  Trust Him in this.

Be Blessed, and have a great day.

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Validation

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how we seek validation from others.

We look to our friends, family, co-workers and supervisors, our romantic interests, at times even total strangers.  It seems as humans we feel a very strong drive to be approved of by someone.  In the most extreme cases we seek approval from anyone and everyone (which can cause a person to do things and behave in ways that are not for the best).

When we fail to obtain that validation, we are left feeling like less of a person.  We feel as though we have less value, are somehow diminished as a human being (or, if you prefer to phrase it in terms of gender, less of a man/woman, as the case may be.  In my case it is “man”, for the record.)

However, it is important to remember that our value is not actually set by those around us.  It is set by none other than God Himself.

Jesus said that the same Father who watches over the sparrows is watching over us, and values us much greater (Matthew 10:31).  Nothing  can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39).  In his mercy and grace we find the validation and approval that we seek, we find compassion and forgiveness when we err, and immeasurable love, totally (as the title of this blog) unquantified, beyond comprehension and infinite.

Even when forsaken by friends, even family, God is there (Psalm 27:10) ready to take up our cause, ready to take us into His presence and fellowship.

Does that mean it ceases to upset us, at times frustrate us and hurt us, when we feel rejected by others?  Not likely.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem over the rejection of Him by the people there.  Likewise, He understands our pain.  And, likewise, He cares.  However, we can have the constant hope that when we come to Him, His arms will be open.

Have a blessed day!

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Unwitting Accomplices

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Have you ever felt robbed?

When you look at your life, do you feel at times like you got shortchanged? Bamboozled? Cheated?

Sometimes we are not happy with the way certain situations work out, or the way certain things seem to go in our lives.  Sometimes, it’s just life.  But then there are other times.

Times when we believe that somewhere it went wrong. The path of our life went haywire. And we wonder how and why.

Although the answer I am about to propose is not always the case, it applies to many of the things in my own life as I look back, and I believe that most folks will find it is true for many of their own lives as well.

John 10:10 records Jesus saying that the thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy.  But how many times do we act as unwitting accomplices?

Often times bad decisions, our own desires, or just plain old rebelliousness and sin cause us to play right into the snares of the enemy.  We make our judgments about our life by how we feel, not by prayer, obedience, waiting on God or even so much as seeking wise counsel.  And sometimes the consequences of these actions cause things to happen in our lives that bring unsatisfactory results and situations.

We have played a role in a crime against ourselves.  Not our intentions, but it happened and now we have to deal with it.

So, when we find ourselves in these situations, what do we do?  Forgive me, but the term “learning experience” and “growth” are generally just euphemisms for “Boy, I blew it and I know it, but do not have a clue as to how to deal with it.”

There is a theme throughout the New Testament. I will give a couple of verses to get the idea across.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. The old is gone, the new is here. (Not a direct quote, trying to be brief.) In Revelation 21:5, John heard the voice of God say “Behold, I make all things new.”

Basically what we can infer from that is this: whatever we have lost, whatever has been stolen from us, whatever went wrong, God can do better than fix it.  He has the ability to make all things new.  And if we let Him, He will.  But He will have to start with us.

It would do no good to make everything else new if we went right back to being an unwitting accomplice.  We need God to renew us first, our hearts, our minds, our spirits, then work on the externals.

Otherwise, we would be like a shiny new car with an engine that would not run, wheels that would not turn, and a missing transmission.  Bluntly, we would not be going anyplace.

The times we realize that we have allowed ourselves to be robbed, and even helped the robber, we need to submit to God. Seek Him, and allow Him to make all things new.

Blessings to you. Thanks for stopping by.

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Son Of Humble Yourself

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

I recently wrote a post called “Humble Yourself”.

Now I would like to add a few more thoughts on the subject.

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus told the story of a Pharisee who was praying loudly and proudly, boasting of his good works, while a publican bowed his head away from view and simply asked for mercy.

I have been thinking about this.  Often in my life I have gotten a little full of myself and a lot self righteous.  There are times in my life, and possibly in yours, that the emphasis has been on the self, not on God.  We look on others the way the Pharisee looked at the publican, thinking that with all our good behaviour we are just a little better.  And under the guise of religion, we “toot our own horn” to God (and sometimes others as well.)

But the publican had the right attitude.  It has nothing to do with our good works, it has to do with God’s goodness, His mercy, His grace.

Sometimes we need a little humbling and take time out from ourselves, examine our hearts, and mimic the attitude and words of the publican: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Hope you have a blessed day. Thanks for stopping by!

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