{"id":122,"date":"2012-08-29T00:22:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T00:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shorttim.es\/?p=122"},"modified":"2012-08-29T00:22:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-29T00:22:45","slug":"compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/?p=122","title":{"rendered":"Compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compassion….This is a word that you hear a lot, but what does it truly look like? \u00a0In Matthew 9:36 it says\u00a0Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0In James 1:27 James says Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: \u00a0to look after orphans and widows in their distress…\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Generally speaking, the neediest people in the early church were orphans and widows, the principle James is expressing in this passage is our responsibility to care for those in need. \u00a0As believers, we are striving to be like Jesus, with His character and filled with His attributes. \u00a0But lets get past the “religious” lingo and really examine what compassion looks like for us in today’s world? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


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I find myself making\u00a0judgment\u00a0on who I believe deserves my compassion. \u00a0Not necessarily by their looks, how they dress, etc but I find myself making judgments of “well, they are merely suffering the consequences of their poor choices”. \u00a0Let’s look at the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke\u00a0<\/span>15:11-32; his Father’s reaction to him coming home was not one of judgment or condemnation for all of the wrong choices he made; rather we see him say \u00a022\u00a0But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. \u00a023 \u00a0And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. \u00a024 \u00a0For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ \u00a0And they began to celebrate. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
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What does Compassion look like to you? \u00a0Have you ever been on the receiving end? \u00a0Have you ever been on the giving end? \u00a0As believers in Christ, we are called to be filled with compassion, we are called to take care of the needy. \u00a0There are opportunities all around us to show compassion to one another. \u00a0There are people who God brings into our life for a specific purpose – sometimes it is easy to rationalize them away but oh the joy that comes when we listen and act when God leads. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A couple of weeks ago, a lady came into our place of business to have her car repaired. \u00a0She had been in an auto accident and was obviously quite frustrated about the whole matter (which is a typical reaction). \u00a0She shared her frustration of the car accident with Kim Sammons, one of our Team Members, but emphatically concluded that this minor inconvenience was nothing in the scheme of things; she had lost her 5 year old son a little over a year ago in a previous car accident. \u00a0Kim was overwhelmed with emotion because she immediately knew what car accident she was referring to. \u00a0Kim had witnessed this tragic event and had been troubled because of the loss of the little boy. \u00a0Kim knew God had their paths cross for a specific reason. \u00a0It wasn’t just coincidence that Kim had witnessed the accident which took the life of this lady’s son and then a year later, their paths crossed again. \u00a0Tears were shed as they talked about the day from a year ago and Kim was so moved by this, she wanted to act and show compassion for her. \u00a0One reason the lady was frustrated about this accident was the out of pocket costs that she was going to incur. \u00a0Kim saw this opportunity to show compassion by paying the deductible for her. \u00a0Kim did not share with the customer her intent to pay until she came to pick up her vehicle when the repairs were completed. \u00a0The customer then shared she had financial problems that she hadn’t told anyone about, she just prayed God would help her. \u00a0In Kim’s words “He did, through us we answered her prayer!” \u00a0She could have brushed it off but she didn’t, she acted on the opportunity that God brought into her life. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Look for what opportunities God is bringing to you – who has he placed in your life today? \u00a0Maybe it is someone you see every day or maybe it is someone you have never seen before in your life. \u00a0Matthew 5:16 says\u00a0In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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This week is\u00a0LOVE WEEK<\/span>\u00a0at Genesis Church \u00a0– simply a week for us to show our compassion for others. \u00a0We have the opportunity to donate items for an orphanage in Guatemala, donate items needed for a local school here in Tallahassee and are encouraged to do random acts of kindness. \u00a0There are opportunities all around us! \u00a0My desire is to be filled with the compassion of Jesus!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compassion….This is a word that you hear a lot, but what does it truly look like? \u00a0In Matthew 9:36 it says\u00a0Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.\u00a0\u00a0In James … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorttimer.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}