Have Compassion

macro shot of heart shaped cut out

Dr. Diane E. Levin, a professor of early childhood education at Wheelock College in Boston, coined the term “compassionate deficit disorder.” She uses this term to describe the influx of children who lack empathy and meet their needs by exhibiting bullying behavior. Dr. Levin attributes these problems to an increased amount of screen time (causing anti-social behavior), an increase in toys mimicking screens, families who have to work more due to financial stress (thereby increasing screens as a means to occupy their kids), and parents planning activities outside of the home to occupy their kids, where playtime with peers is substituted for time with adults controlling all activities.

In a nutshell, Dr. Levin said to counter this trend adults need to model healthy social behaviors. We all need to model compassion and talk our kids through their problems, rather than punishing them for being anti-social. Our schools are pushing academia over teaching social curriculum. A perfect scriptural summation of the solution is found in Colossians 3:12-14: “Put on, then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Wow! If adults made this their mantra for the remainder of their lives, our children would have ideal models of healthy, biblical social behaviors. It should not surprise us that as we move further away from biblical norms our societal norms will shift towards chaos. We have the perfect model to imitate in the scriptures!

Gideon: God Does A Lot With a Little

The Israelites failed the conquest when they entered into the land of the Canaanites. When they entered the promised land they had judges rule the people. Gideon was the fifth judge and was considered a warrior hero. When an angel approached Gideon, Gideon replied: “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13 ESV). The Lord turned to Gideon and replied, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” (vs. 14).

Gideon said that he belongs to the weakest clan in Manasseh and he was the least in his father’s house. God replied, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man” (vs. 16). Gideon asked for a sign and God granted the sign. Gideon began with 32,000 men ready for battle but God said he had too many men, otherwise the Israelites might boast and say, “My own hand has saved me” (7:2). God eventually dwindled that number down to 300 men who would defeat the Midianites.

In the end, Gideon’s 300 men defeated thousands of the Midianites. This story is not entirely unique. God constantly uses weak, poor, and remnants of people to accomplish huge feats. When Paul said that he was straining toward the goal, he never assumed the path would be easy. In fact, it was the exact opposite. But Paul trusted God that, so long as Paul remained faithful, He would do the heavy lifting and bless many people. And that’s exactly what God did.

Jacob’s Well

Jacob’s well is mentioned only once in the Bible in John chapter 4, though the land is mentioned in Genesis 33. In the Genesis account, Jacob bought a piece of land for a hundred pieces of money in the city of Shechem. This eventually became the capital of Samaria and tradition has long held the idea that the well here belonged to Jacob. When Jesus entered Samaria, “he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph” (John 4:5 ESV). “Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well” (vs. 6).

Wells have always been an important source of clean drinking water. Wells are found in abundance throughout the Bible. When enemies wanted to weaken people and their economy, they would stop up their wells. Jacob’s well is still providing clean water to this day, thousands of years after it was hand dug. Wells are essential for life.

Jacob’s well would be the scene for Jesus’ discussion with the Samaritan woman about Jesus being living water. The woman asked, “Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock” (vs. 12). Jesus informed her that people who drink at Jacob’s well will get thirsty again. But, he said, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (vs. 14). We know the rest of the story; how the woman came to believe in Jesus as the source of living water (salvation). We are honored to partner with an organization to bring both physical water and living water to lost and thirsty people across the world!

The Great(est) Commission

person holding world globe facing mountain

Jesus’ great commission to his apostles is well recorded and is not a very lengthy conversation. In Matthew 28, Jesus’ eleven disciples went to Galilee to a mountain to which Jesus directed them. Matthew records, “And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted” (vs. 17). The fact that some doubted is not surprising. This isn’t the first time they doubted. Thomas doubted. But so did others who didn’t believe Mary’s testimony that Jesus’ tomb was empty.

Jesus’ next words are the last words recorded in the gospel of Matthew: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (vs. 18-20).

This is known as the great commission, but it really should be called the greatest commission! We literally have the last recorded words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven. This commission is still just as important as it was 2,000 years ago. May we always strive to carry out the great(est) commission!

Will You Keep His Commandments No Matter What?

photo of child reading holy bible

When the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, they spent forty years in the desert under very brutal conditions. The heat would have been unbearable and there was a constant lack of food and water. The wilderness wanderings certainly tested the Israelites in every sense of the word. In fact, God said, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV).

God reminded them that they always had food and water when they were in the desert. God was testing them to see if they would remain faithful to him and to see if they were really ready to inherit the promised land. A valid question we could ask ourselves is: like the Israelites, will we keep God’s commandments no matter what? Will we help our neighbor and do what we can to bless other people when they are in need? Will we do this regardless of our life’s circumstances?

The Bible is clear that we will face many trials. Those trials will test us on every level. There may be days when we are hungry, thirsty, lacking money, or our health may be bad. What will we do in those circumstances? Will we turn away from God or will we continue to trust him and bless other people? Those are choices that we need to make every single day of our lives. Let’s always choose to bless!

The Doer Will Be Blessed In His Doing

man assisting person with walker

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to Christians telling them that faith wasn’t enough. In fact, faith without works is dead. James repeatedly warns them to be active in works, helping those who are in need: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror” (James 1:22, 23 ESV).

That man looks away and forgets what he was like, according to James. James goes on to say, “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (vs. 25). James is clear that God blesses the one who is a “doer.” The word for doer means someone who makes or produces things–someone who is productive! Put another way, the productive one will be blessed in his production.

When we make the conscious decision to be a “doer” for God, He blessed the doing. He makes us more productive when we faithfully work to help others. Just two verses later James says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (vs. 27). Remember, God blesses the doing of the doer!

Come To the Light

shinning candle in dark

We all can recite John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Within the bigger context, John is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus explicitly stated that unless one be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. A person must be born of the water and Spirit and Jesus concludes that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (vs. 15).

While keeping things in perspective, John reminds us that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (vs. 17). His judgment is that light came into the world but people loved the darkness because their works are evil. Evil people hate the light and love the darkness because light exposes their deeds (vs. 20). This is why people hated Jesus and wanted him dead.

However, “whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (vs. 21). In other words, people who do what is true naturally gravitate toward the light so that the works that are carried out in God can be seen and point others to God. The works that Christians do should always point people to God. Paul was incredibly adamant that people follow him as he followed the example of Christ. Everything he and the disciples did and said was meant to point people to God, and it was always done in the light.