Tears without compassion not enough
Albert Bogle
February 02, 2022
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1 Corinthians 13: 3, Luke 19: 41-44 (NIVUK)
(1 Corinthians 13) 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
(Luke 19) 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.’
It’s one thing to put on a show of compassion. We’ve all heard the expression crocodile tears. But the real question is do we live out the compassion? Do we truly know what motivates our empathy? Are we looking for some kind of undisclosed kind of recognition from others? The power of the church restored is when we live for others without counting the cost.
True compassion is to feel for and journey alongside another’s suffering and actively try to relieve it. In these passages of scripture we are confronted with the empty effect of duty. It is not enough to do something out of duty. Only that which is administered out of love lasts and heals. Everything else will bring with it a trail of more suffering. When compassion is refused or even mocked the greater the eventual sorrow. Let us all examine our hearts that we might walk and live in true humility and grace.
PRAYER:
Lord perhaps I need
To show compassion without tears
To let love right wrongs
Without the wrong done to another becoming my blessing
Help me to serve
Without my left hand knowing
My right hand blessed another
Help me when I cry dry tears
Hiding my generosity
Shifting the balance
Of my wealth
My heart
My love
My life
To encounter
The joy and laughter
Of expectation
Knowing your Kingdom
Is growing within me.
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