BE-Gratitudes: 30 Days of Positive Attitudes – Compassionate
November 4th, 2021
Day Four: Compassionate
Matthew 9:35-37, ‘Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When He looked out over the crowds, His heart broke with compassion. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.’ (MSG)
Each day seems to awaken with an even greyer pallor than the day before. It is not an uncommon sentiment to hear another person voice statements like, ‘Everyone is just losing it!’ or ‘These are unprecedented times!’ or ‘People are just crazy, acting out of control,’ or ‘We’ve never seen anything like this before!’ It’s like the times just keep getting sicker even though the Doctor prescribed a remedy the world has refused to try.
In my town, there is a piece of it where humanity smashes itself against an uncaring world daily. Park benches and bus stops are cluttered with shattered lives; broken people are found on every street corner. It isn’t foreign to see faces in the gutter and homes built of cardboard boxes and beggars vying for everyone’s attention. Hazed and dazed, people of all ages and ethnicities wander the streets like zombies, lost and alone. It is heartbreaking.
Jesus, what would You do? What would You have me to do? Having my heart break for them isn’t enough; I know that. Sometimes, it seems even prayers aren’t enough. But how does a person like me stand a chance to help save such desperate souls? I can’t look at them and feel okay, nor can I look away. Jesus, please, breathe into me Your ability to reach out and care and make a difference, to be Jesus to someone else who is hurting and empty and needy. ‘Break my heart for what breaks Yours, o God’.
Name three ways you can help someone this holiday season.
Hebrews 13:1-3, ‘Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look at victims of abuse as if what happened to them, happened to you.’ (MSG)
