To be compassionate... is to be... self-less... thinking of others needs first...
Me... I allow self to hinder... compassion...
What will it cost me...? to step into their mess...?
What will they think of me...? to enter a mess that's not mine...?
And possibly the most perverted thought process... assuming the one in need... possesses my own self-absorbed nature...
Will they be self-conscious if I notice their mess...? offer help...?
Will I hurt their feelings...? make them uncomfortable...?
My self-centeredness... leads me to worry about others... self-centeredness... in a most compassionate way...!?!
Lies... Lies...
Jesus... He came sans self... no self-consciousness... only God-the-Father-consciousness... undistracted by the many voices in the world... the liars...
He only allowed the Father's voice... the compassionate gracious God... to prevail...
His greatest act of compassion... the cross... caused Him to sweat blood... in anticipation... He even prayed... for another way...
But in the end... He surrendered... trusting... knowing... there is no other way...
The believer's calling is to think and feel and will just what Jesus thought and felt and willed. He desires to be partaker, not only of the grace, but also of the holiness of his Lord; or rather, he sees that holiness is the chief beauty of grace. To live the life of Christ means to him to be delivered from the life of self; the will of Christ is to him the only path of liberty from the slavery of his own evil self-will.
---Andrew Murray on Prayer, Abide in Christ (emphasis added)
Acts of compassion... are followed through without regard to self... no turning back...
That is why Jesus says...
"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back
is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:62
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. ..."
Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23
"...The man who loves his life will lose it,
while the man who hates his life in this world
will keep it for eternal life. ..."
John 12:25
I look back... and see an uncertain row... filled with gaps... an unfit furrow... too many times... the hands... have left the plow... the cross... dropped at the crossroads... a life loved... too much...
My failures... to act... react... offer... compassion... make me hate my life...
Lord... make me fit... for service in the Kingdom...
Deliver me from the life of self...
Teach me... to walk Your way...
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