"So he answered and said, ' "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind," and "your neighbor as yourself." ' And He said to him, 'You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.' " (Luke 10:27-28 NKJV)
In Matthew 9:35 Jesus has compassion on the people because they were "harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd." In the parable of the Good Samaritan it says that the Samaritan had compassion on the man on the side of the road. In both of these instances compassion is what made the difference, compassion moved both of these men to act upon what they had seen. In my last blog entry I wrote about 4 steps that will help you see change - see, feel, think, do (thank you, Andrew Gard). We know that without love everything is meaningless. You can be the wisest person in the world and still fall short without love. Out of love stems compassion, or maybe it's the other way around. The two ideas are closely related, you will have one if you have the other.
How can you and I show compassion more often, and love more ferociously?
I believe the best way to learn how to love people is to learn what love actually is, then to study how Jesus lived and loved. If you don't know what love is, it will be difficult to carry it out. Jesus said that "love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (I Cor 13:4-7 NKJV)
If you have read that passage before I want you to go back and read it again. And go slowly this time, really let each attribute of love sink in...
Isn't that a little overwhelming at first? I know I thought so. So if love is all those things, how are we supposed to accomplish that? We're supposed to love God and people that way. On top of that, we're supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. What's the difference between loving God with your heart, with your soul, with your strength, and with your mind? I believe heart is in regards to our feelings and emotions. We need to love him like we would love a Father, king, and friend. Our strength refers to our physical bodies; we need to take care of ourselves because our bodies are holy temples unto the Lord. Loving God with our mind is perhaps the least emphasized part of this verse. God has given us a powerful mind and we need to take full advantage of it. That means studying the Word, learning about new things, pushing our mind to its limit.
Here are a few things to remember when thinking about how you can love others more.
1. True, godly love is unconditional. You treat everyone the same, no matter if you know them or you're complete strangers. If someone is rude to you, you still love them. If someone cuts you off on the freeway, you still show love. If your brother or sister tells on you, you still treat them with kindness and respect.
2. True, godly love puts others first. Their problems and desire are more important than yours.
3. True love always forgives. No matter how much it hurts or how much you've been hurt, you forgive.
Now that we've talked about how to love people, how can we be more compassionate? It's hard to love people when you don't really care about what they are going through. We need to look at people through Jesus' eyes. What moved Jesus to have compassion? He said they were harassed and helpless. Jesus knew what it meant to be harassed, he was harassed by the devil himself. He put himself in their shoes. That is the key to having compassion - putting yourself in the center of someone else's life. What would it be like to be them? How would you feel? Would you want someone to care about you enough to encourage you, help you, listen to you?
This blog entry is full of challenges, so I won't give you another one, but I would encourage you to try implementing a couple of these things into your life today. Try to show an act of love or compassion that is out of the norm for you. The only way we grow is when we're put under pressure. We're "refined by the fire," so to speak. But don't forget that loving God is the most important commandment. Nothing should come before God in our lives.
Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
See, feel, think, do
I went to The "U" last Friday, which is the college age ministry at my church, and Andrew Gard preached a message about the process of changing your city. He said the keys to change are see, feel, think, and do. Here's what Jesus says in Luke 6:46-49
"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." (Emphasis added)
The modern equivalent to this would be a person who goes to church, worships God, hears a fantastic message from the preacher, but then wakes up the next morning and lives life the same as always. If you've been raised in church or you've been going to church for a long time you might gasp and think, "How could they?!" But let's pause and think for a second - how many things have we heard our whole lives that we haven't acted upon or perfected yet? We all hear things in church that make us want to change and want to help others and want to do something to change the world, but how often do we actually do those things? How often do we even take time to plan out how we would reach those goals and dreams? We see the problem, we feel compelled to do something about it, yet we fall short at either the thinking or the doing stage. Those are the most important! Hearing without doing is sin. Knowing and not acting is sin. It's a sin of omission rather than comission, so in our minds we feel like it's not as bad. We justify it with excuses like, "Well I'm not really doing anything wrong, I'm just not doing anything at all." All sin is equal; not doing anything is just as much of a sin as doing something wrong.
How can I begin to act upon the things I hear? What do I want to do but haven't taken the time to plan out how? And what have I made plans to do and not followed through with?
It's time to live our lives with God's higher purpose in mind. It's time to act upon the things that are most important. Where did our urgency go? The disciples had an urgency to see people saved, they lived every day like it might be their last. Do you have dreams and desires that you don't dare say out loud because of how outrageous they seem? Do you see celebrities as real people who are desperate for God's love and grace in their lives and you wish you could help them? Do you see the poor and needy and realize how much more you could be doing to help them? Is there something you're passionate about and good at but you keep it to yourself? It's time to act upon these things and make time for them. We need to get our priorities in order. Reaching the lost should be on our radar at all times, not just the day after church.
As you're reading this I challenge to exit out of this webpage and open up a word document on your screen, a memo on your phone, or a journal in your lap, and begin to write. Write what you're passionate about. Write of the injustices in the world that outrage you, write of the things that pain you and bring you to tears. Once you've expressed what you see and how it makes you feel, write about how you are going to make a difference. List 3 practical things you can do to see that particular problem or injustice rectified. Maybe you're going to recruit others to help you. Maybe it's something you need to do on your own. Maybe you're going to need to travel to make it happen. Maybe you're going to have to do some research before you can go any further. Whatever it is, go do it. Our beliefs and morals are useless if we don't act upon them. It's like having a cure for cancer and hiding it.
I am praying that God gives every single one of you the courage and boldness to accomplish what you set out to do for His kingdom! We only have a short time on this earth and it's our job to steward that time wisely.
Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae
"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." (Emphasis added)
The modern equivalent to this would be a person who goes to church, worships God, hears a fantastic message from the preacher, but then wakes up the next morning and lives life the same as always. If you've been raised in church or you've been going to church for a long time you might gasp and think, "How could they?!" But let's pause and think for a second - how many things have we heard our whole lives that we haven't acted upon or perfected yet? We all hear things in church that make us want to change and want to help others and want to do something to change the world, but how often do we actually do those things? How often do we even take time to plan out how we would reach those goals and dreams? We see the problem, we feel compelled to do something about it, yet we fall short at either the thinking or the doing stage. Those are the most important! Hearing without doing is sin. Knowing and not acting is sin. It's a sin of omission rather than comission, so in our minds we feel like it's not as bad. We justify it with excuses like, "Well I'm not really doing anything wrong, I'm just not doing anything at all." All sin is equal; not doing anything is just as much of a sin as doing something wrong.
How can I begin to act upon the things I hear? What do I want to do but haven't taken the time to plan out how? And what have I made plans to do and not followed through with?
It's time to live our lives with God's higher purpose in mind. It's time to act upon the things that are most important. Where did our urgency go? The disciples had an urgency to see people saved, they lived every day like it might be their last. Do you have dreams and desires that you don't dare say out loud because of how outrageous they seem? Do you see celebrities as real people who are desperate for God's love and grace in their lives and you wish you could help them? Do you see the poor and needy and realize how much more you could be doing to help them? Is there something you're passionate about and good at but you keep it to yourself? It's time to act upon these things and make time for them. We need to get our priorities in order. Reaching the lost should be on our radar at all times, not just the day after church.
As you're reading this I challenge to exit out of this webpage and open up a word document on your screen, a memo on your phone, or a journal in your lap, and begin to write. Write what you're passionate about. Write of the injustices in the world that outrage you, write of the things that pain you and bring you to tears. Once you've expressed what you see and how it makes you feel, write about how you are going to make a difference. List 3 practical things you can do to see that particular problem or injustice rectified. Maybe you're going to recruit others to help you. Maybe it's something you need to do on your own. Maybe you're going to need to travel to make it happen. Maybe you're going to have to do some research before you can go any further. Whatever it is, go do it. Our beliefs and morals are useless if we don't act upon them. It's like having a cure for cancer and hiding it.
I am praying that God gives every single one of you the courage and boldness to accomplish what you set out to do for His kingdom! We only have a short time on this earth and it's our job to steward that time wisely.
Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae
Monday, September 20, 2010
Here's the four one one
Well here's some updates in the life of me...
I am currently sitting at Clancy's Coffee in Tacoma across the street from UW Tacoma, (you should stop by sometime, we have fantastic coffee, food, and free internet), (oh, and plus, I work with the nicest people in the world!), and I just noticed that I haven't blogged in a month! That is far too long. I apologize. I guess it's just because I have been dealing with a whole lot this summer and I haven't had the motivation to blog about anything encouraging. It's hard to be encouraging when you're discouraged.
But anyway, enough of that sad talk. Life is good! God has chosen me to do significant things for him, I am sure of it. The past few weeks I have been reengaging in UG and that's been very refreshing. For a while serving felt like a burden, and that's another reason why I pulled back. I don't want to ever treat someone like they're a task for me to accomplish. I like having a passion inside me to help others. I like feeling excited to be at church, I like feeling like it's a privilege to be there. Because it is a privilege. I don't know when I lost that realization, but I pray that I don't forget again.
So right now I am working and trying to save money. I don't really know what I'm saving for, but I know that I need to. I might go on a long-short term mission trip sometime in the next year. I'd go for 6 months to a year, but we'll see. I have decided to write a book. I will probably be taking excerpts from my blog, actually, which is cool for all of you who read it. It's like a little sneak peak. I feel like a lot of our lives is spent waiting to be ready for things. I don't feel old enough, wise enough, knowledgeable enough, or competent enough to write a book, but I have a lot to say and a lot of free time on my hands. Now is a good time to try new things. I think I'm also going to teach a college age small group about spiritual warfare and spiritual gifts, and I'm stoked about that.
Well that's the update for now. Thanks for reading. =)
Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae
I am currently sitting at Clancy's Coffee in Tacoma across the street from UW Tacoma, (you should stop by sometime, we have fantastic coffee, food, and free internet), (oh, and plus, I work with the nicest people in the world!), and I just noticed that I haven't blogged in a month! That is far too long. I apologize. I guess it's just because I have been dealing with a whole lot this summer and I haven't had the motivation to blog about anything encouraging. It's hard to be encouraging when you're discouraged.
But anyway, enough of that sad talk. Life is good! God has chosen me to do significant things for him, I am sure of it. The past few weeks I have been reengaging in UG and that's been very refreshing. For a while serving felt like a burden, and that's another reason why I pulled back. I don't want to ever treat someone like they're a task for me to accomplish. I like having a passion inside me to help others. I like feeling excited to be at church, I like feeling like it's a privilege to be there. Because it is a privilege. I don't know when I lost that realization, but I pray that I don't forget again.
So right now I am working and trying to save money. I don't really know what I'm saving for, but I know that I need to. I might go on a long-short term mission trip sometime in the next year. I'd go for 6 months to a year, but we'll see. I have decided to write a book. I will probably be taking excerpts from my blog, actually, which is cool for all of you who read it. It's like a little sneak peak. I feel like a lot of our lives is spent waiting to be ready for things. I don't feel old enough, wise enough, knowledgeable enough, or competent enough to write a book, but I have a lot to say and a lot of free time on my hands. Now is a good time to try new things. I think I'm also going to teach a college age small group about spiritual warfare and spiritual gifts, and I'm stoked about that.
Well that's the update for now. Thanks for reading. =)
Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae
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