Don't Forget Compassion!

Have you noticed that the worst part of this coronavirus thing is the mental game. That's where the most agony lies, because let’s be honest…aside from not being able to find toilet paper on the shelves, for most of us, technically our lives haven’t actually been changed a whole lot.  Sure, our routines are changing daily from what we would “normally” do.  Normally, we wouldn’t be glued to a 24-hour news cycle while wringing our hands in anxious dread and hoping and praying that we don’t get the Covid-19 virus.

Normally, we don’t give a second thought to jumping in the car and heading to a place where hundreds or even thousands of people are gathered; a movie theater, a ball game, or the mall.  Now we have fewer options to choose from, amid the growing cry of social distancing.  And the more isolated we become, the more we are glued to our devices for news and more news—all bad—as we simply “wait it out.”

But in reality…most of us are still healthy.  Still have homes.  Still have family that love us.  Still have jobs.  That hasn’t changed for most of us…yet we are already living as if it had.  We are already acting like animals with a survival of the fittest mentality, making sure that we are the ones with the most stock-piled to last the longest.

Am I saying that we should act as if everything is fine?  No.  We should be cautious and do our due diligence.  But we have to guard the very epicenter of our souls if we are to come through this thing with our humanity intact, as well as our own mental health.

The wisest man who ever lived said this back in the day.  

NIV Prov. 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. 

The New Living Translation even says it better.

Prov. 4:23    Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Great, Pastor Don…so what exactly does that mean?  It means that, as a human being, your life and actions will always be determined by what you harbor in your heart.

If you allow your heart to grow fearful, and you harbor anxiety and worry as a full-time companion, your ability to be totally human will begin to diminish, and acting towards others with graciousness and love will become extremely difficult.  

In fact, if you allow fear to dwell, you will succumb to a survival of the fittest mentality and you will do things that you currently despise in others.  When selfishness rules the day,  the heart shrivels to a hard callous, as the lives of others grow cheaper in comparison to the big “I”.  Without saying it, our lives broadcast the message, “You are not nearly so important as I, and I will do everything I can to make sure that I survive, even if you don’t!”

If you are a Christian, then recognize that this is the very mindset that Christ calls you away from…not just when times are easy and because you have compassion to spare, but precisely when times get difficult and the rest of the world has swept the shelves bare of everything to give them the best chance of survival.  Recognize that Christ is calling you to demonstrate the difference, not because it’s easy, but because it is hard and in fact, is counter-intuitive to what the world is doing. I believe it was for times like the ones we find ourselves living in that he said, in John 13:35 “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”

There are some who would call that insane.  There are others who will sit up and take notice of the difference.  Christians through the ages have always waded into the mire to be difference makers.  To rescue others.  To lift up the discouraged.  To be the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that is dying without Him.  Not because it was easy, but because it was a hard thing, yet the right thing, to do.  It is the hard thing…but it is always the thing that makes us more human, more in the image of the God we claimed to be created by.

Again, I’m not saying be stupid. Be cautious, take precautions…but don’t lose your compassion.  Don’t allow fear to shrivel your heart.  Instead recognize that we can live this way because we have a different focus.  A different perspective.  We understand that this world is not all there is.  We know that we are just traveling through and that one day, sooner or later, we will all die here.  It all ends the same here, no matter the cause.  We die.  Car accidents, plane crashes, homicide, suicide, war casualty, heart attack, stroke, cancer or corona virus.  We can’t outrun death forever.  But even as we face death, we recognize that death simply doesn’t have the final word.  It’s only a temporary stop on the way to eternity.  

Our hope is not in this world and in the mess we have here.  Our hope is in a person, Jesus, and He is of another world and because of this fact, we recognize that it is far more important to be eternally safe than it is to be physically safe here.  So instead, we set our sights on a better world.  A better kingdom free of the junk we deal with down here.  

The book of Revelation describes it for us: Rev. 21:1   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Rev. 21:3   I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.^a 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Rev. 21:5   And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”

That’s what makes a difference in how I can live through the uncertainty of the next few weeks.  I’m not looking to just survive…but to thrive…for eternity.  I write this, not as a young, healthy, not-much-to-worry-about-from-this-virus person, but as one who has been identified as a high-risk, potential casualty should I contract it.  And yes, I’m taking the prescribed precautions, but I will not let a virus rob me of my humanity.  I will seek to reach out, even if it is from my keyboard to your screen.  I will seek to encourage you.  I will continue to pray for you. And I will seek to remind you that this world is not our home.  And I hope you do the same for me.

Heb. 12:1,2    Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.^a Because of the joy^b awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Thankfulness as a way of Life

When bad things happen, we rarely challenge our own thoughts as to their rightness or wrongness.  We simply assume that if we thought them, they must be right.  We have the arrogance to believe that we are the final authority on what we see and we have little room for a change in perspective. We hold to our own opinions so tightly that we refuse to see any possibility that we just might be wrong.

A life of ingratitude is the result.  Nothing that happens around us can then be good enough to suit us.  Nothing is worthy of our lofty heights, and it is easy to dismiss it all with a sweep of the hand as being beneath us.  Then, when trouble comes, it is also very easy to fall into a victim’s role rather than a student’s role.

We complain and cry that life isn’t fair and that we don’t deserve all of this pain and often conclude that if there is a God, He must hate us to put us through all of this misery.  In short, our perspective has become our god.  And our perspective is what causes us to either make thankfulness a way of life or miss out on it.

Either we see things from a perspective of being grateful, or from a perspective that leaves us wanting more and feeling like we not only deserve it, but that we are getting ripped off it we don’t get it.

Many of us are growing past the material side of things.  That is, we’ve seen that more material possessions won’t make us any happier, but we still want more.  We never seem to be satisfied.  A new computer. A new car.  A new sofa. A new job.  A new house.  You may say, “Nope…I’m satisfied.  Don’t want any of that.”

What about more power?  More influence?  More skill?  More money for the job you are being asked to do?  Nope…not me.  I’m happy.  Well…maybe a little more money.  But really, I’m good.

More intimacy in my marriage.  More time for doing what I want.  More respect.  More love.  More appreciation from others.  Are we getting closer to home?

We spend our lives thinking if only we had more of something then we’d be happy.  And while we know that’s not necessarily true, the fact is, we are right.  We do need more of something.  The catch is having more… of the right stuff.

If we only had more of Jesus in our lives, we would be.  If we had more trust in Divine power and less trust in ourselves, we would be more settled.  If we had more belief that God really did love us and has our best interest in mind and less doubt, we could learn to relax in His care.  Again, it’s a matter of perspective.  And where do we get that perspective?  Let’s go to the Word.

Phil 4:6-7 NIV  6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 4:6-7 NLT    Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I like the way that reads, don’t you?  It makes it readily understandable. Look at verse 6 again.   Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. This is the part we looked at a few weeks ago when we were talking about worry.  Don’t worry, instead pray.  Now let’s look a little more closely at this last part of verse 6.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

It is not wrong to have needs.  God knows what you need—but He wants to hear from you.  He wants you to articulate what you need.  Not just what you want, but what your needs are.  See—we so often tell God what we want that we’ve often confused the two.  And there is nothing wrong with telling God what you want—but remember that He has only promised to supply what you need, though often He will go far beyond that to supply some of the wants as well.

Tell God what you need.  Do you really know what you need?  Is it truly more money?  Or is it a more trusting heart in God and a willingness to watch His provision?

Is it for your loved one to be healed?  Or is it for you to learn to yield yourself to the will of God?  Which do you want and which do you really need?

Is it for your kids to be kept safe physically or spiritually?  Sure we want our kids to be kept safe physically—but we need our kids to be kept safe spiritually.

The very act of determining our wants from our real needs can help change our perspective. Tell God what you NEED.  Not worrying—praying.  Tell Him what you need, and then look at the last statement of the verse: and thank Him for all He has done.  Go back and recount what God has already done for you.  Not just a blanket, generic, “Thank you for all your many blessings”, but where you begin to realize that He has provided for so many of your needs and wants, starting with your greatest need—salvation, and working from there.  The perspective of gratitude gives you purpose.

 You and I can live our days with that purpose because there was One who took our diseases upon Himself, and our worst disease, sin, was enough to do Him in—not because He had to die.  He was perfectly healthy in every way.  It was we who were sick and doomed to die.  But when He began to do a character transplant, our sickness required so much of Him that it cost His very life.   With that realization should come gratitude that changes the way we live our lives.

Phil. 4:6-7 NLT    Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  (Then notice the by-product.) 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Those four statements can change your world. Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need.  And thank Him for all He has done.

That’s how you develop thankfulness as a way of life.  And the thing you are looking for becomes reality.  Peace.  You can have God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  And it is His peace that will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Don’t worry.   Pray. Tell God what you need.  Thank him for what He has done.  That will change your perspective.  And that will bring you peace in your life.