Neighborly Compassion
by Jon Walker

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” Luke 10:25-28 (NLT)
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If you had to boil all of the commandments of God down to no more than a sentence, Jesus confirmed it would read something like this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also love your neighbor as yourself.
Once again, we see the connection between our love for God and our love for others. We see the connection between the compassion we receive from God and the compassion we extend to our neighbors.
But the lawyer in this exchange with Jesus pressed in like a prosecutor, drilling for a specific definition of neighbor. Luke writes, “The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (10:29, NLT)
A gentle teacher, with a gentle yoke, Jesus did not answer directly (or even crack any lawyer jokes). He told a story many of us are familiar with, about a man beaten and left for dead on the road to Jericho. First, a priest walked by, and seeing the man, crossed to the other side of the road. Then, an assistant at the Temple who was in charge of purity and tithing walked by, and seeing the injured man, he crossed to the other side of the road.
Finally, a man from a despised race, a Samaritan, walked by and stopped. He treated the man’s injuries and then took him to a nearby inn, paying for his care and lodging until he could get back on his feet.
Who, Jesus asked, was the injured man’s neighbor?
The lawyer responded, “The one who showed him mercy.” “That’s right,” Jesus said, “Now go and do the same.” (based on Luke 10:37, NLT)
Compassion is as compassion does. The ones in need are our neighbors, whom we should love with the same love we have for ourselves.
What does this mean?
· Maintain a teachable heart – When the lawyer faced Jesus, he tried to justify his current behavior, instead of allowing Jesus to teach him the compassionate behavior. In other words, the lawyer was trying to bend the scriptures to match his behavior when he should have been changing his behavior to match the scriptures. Instead of defending a position, ask God to help you become teachable as you learn to receive and give compassion.

· Listen to constructive criticism – “If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject criticism, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding. Fear of the Lord teaches a person to be wise; humility precedes honor.” (Proverbs 15:31-33, NLT)

· Relationships over religious rules – In the story of the Good Samaritan, it is the religious people who walk by, and it is the despised Samaritan who helps the injured man. It seems Jesus is less interested in religion – rituals and rules – than he is in compassionate relationships; it is compassion in relationships that reveals the heart of God, not the following of religious rules.

· How would you want to be treated? “Now go and do the same.” (Luke 10:37, NLT)

Pleasing God – Practical Worship

by Rick Warren

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 (NIV)
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Why does God want your body? Why doesn’t he say, “Offer your spirit”?
It’s because without your body you can’t do anything on this planet. In eternity, you’re going to get a new, improved, upgraded body but while you’re here on earth God says, “Give me what you’ve got!” He’s just being practical about worship.
You’ve heard people say, “I can’t make it to the meeting tonight but I’ll be with you in spirit.” Do you know what that means? Nothing. It’s worthless! As long as you’re on Earth your spirit can only be where your body is! If your body isn’t there, neither are you!
In worship we are to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices.” Now, we usually associate the concept of sacrifice with something dead, but God wants you to be a living sacrifice. He wants you to live for him!
However, the problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar, and we often do that. We sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” on Sunday, then go AWOL on Monday.
In the Old Testament, God took pleasure in the many sacrifices of worship because they foretold of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Now, God is pleased with different sacrifices of worship: thanksgiving, praise, humility, repentance, offerings of money, prayer, serving others, and sharing with those in need.
Real worship costs. David knew this and said, “I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24 TEV). One thing worship costs us is our self-centeredness. You cannot exalt God and yourself at the same time. You don’t worship to be seen by others. You deliberately shift the focus off yourself.
When Jesus said, “Love God with all your strength” (Luke 10:27), he was pointing out that worship takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or comfortable, and sometimes worship is a sheer act of the will – a willing sacrifice.

Daily Ponder

Verse For The Day

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1)
Short Devotional Thought

Our Daily Devotional:

At Hand

Matthew 4:17 KJV: From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Consider the words, "at hand." If we have a pencil at hand, we have a pencil near and in our reach. When Jesus came to us, He placed the Kingdom of Heaven in our reach. The Kingdom of Heaven was not only something near as in the future, but near as in "Stretch out thy hand." As a man seemed to grasp what Jesus was teaching, Jesus told him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark 12:34). As children of God, we belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. We are part of His glorious and eternal Kingdom. We need not wait to enjoy the riches of our relationship with God. He is near--even within our reach. AMEN!

Our Witness: God’s Good News

Our Witness: God’s Good News
by Rick Warren

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” Mark 16:15 (NLT)
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Every Christian is called to share with others what we’ve been given from God. But, I’m often asked, what exactly are we supposed to share?
Here’s your message in two words: good news.
Mark says in our key verse today that we’re to tell the good news to everyone.
Do you like to get good news? Everybody does. Do you like to share good news? Most people do. At my house, we compete to see who gets to share the good news.
Now, many of us think, “The people I work with, my friends, they’re not interested in the good news.”
But, we’re dead wrong! They may not be interested in religion, but they are interested in the good news. The problem is not that our friends and co-workers aren’t interested; the problem is we’ve forgotten how good the good news really is.
Once you’ve been a Christian for a while, you forget how miserable it was to live without hope. You forget what it was like to worry where you would go when you die. You forget what it was like to have guilt, fear, regrets, bitterness, and boredom in your life – a life before Christ brought meaning, purpose, and significance.
What happens to most of us is that the longer you’re a Christian the more you tend to take for granted how good the good news really is. Likewise, most people who do not know Jesus don’t understand how good the good news really is.
If you go out on the street and ask people, “How do you convince God to like you?” most of them will probably say, “You’ve got to work real hard to get God’s approval and you’ve got to be really, really good. You’ve got to keep a lot of rules and you probably have to follow a lot of regulations and do some rituals. You’ve got to be religious. I’m none of those things, so I’m never going to please God or get to know him.” If that’s what some people think the good news is, it’s no wonder they don’t get too excited about discussing it.
But here’s the good news: you are able to enter into a relationship with God through an attitude of trust – trust in Jesus Christ – and not through a religion of rules, regulations, and rituals.
God says you get to know him just by trusting him. If you trust his Son with your life, you get forgiveness for your past, a purpose for living in your present, and a home in heaven in the future.
Is that good news? Do you think anybody you know would be interested in that?
The good news keeps sounding better and better because the bad news of the world keeps getting worse and worse.

How to Let Go of Past Hurts

How to Let Go of Past Hurts
by Rick Warren

Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, “I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19 (NLT)
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First, relinquish your right to get even. Leave that up to God; he’ll take care of it (Romans 12:19).
I’ve been married for thirty years and I’m ashamed to say, I’ve hurt my wife many times. But after thirty years, we’re still together and more in love than ever before. Why? Because it’s not hurt that destroys relationships, it’s an unwillingness to forgive. We’re human; we’re going to hurt each other. But the question is, will you give up your right to get even? And will you offer forgiveness? When you do, any hurt can be overcome.

Second, respond to evil with good. How can you tell when you’ve released somebody, when you’ve completely forgiven them? You can actually pray for God to bless the person who hurt you. The Bible says we should overcome evil with good, praying for those who hurt us (Romans 12:21; Matthew 5:44).

Third, repeat these steps as long as necessary. Forgiveness is rarely a one-time shot. When somebody hurts you, we tent to think about it over and over and over. How often do you have to forgive the person? The Apostle Peter once asked Jesus, “‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Mathew 18:21-22 NIV). In other words, it needs to be continual, limitless; we shouldn’t even try to count the times we forgive, just as Jesus doesn’t count the times he forgives us.

Fourth, begin telling others about God’s forgiveness. The Bible says, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20 NLT).

Practice Makes Peaceful

Verse For The Day

“ I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” (1 Corinthians 1:10)

Short Devotional Thought
Our Daily Devotional:
Practice Makes Peaceful

Philippians 4:9 NIV: Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Playing on the piano is easy. Playing the piano well, takes a great deal of practice. Even after a year of piano lessons, I still fumble and fail—and the results are easy to hear. Becoming a Christian is easy. Living the Christian life takes dedication, devotion, daily seeking, and a heart that is willing to remain in Christ. It seems so many try to live as Christians as though one year of lessons is enough. It is not enough to hear about stepping out in faith, or to hear about victory that comes when trusting Jesus with everything; we must put these Biblical principles into practice. Practice will not make us perfect here, but as we remain in Christ, practice will bring us peace in the meantime.

Why Must We Forgive?

Why Must We Forgive?
by Rick Warren

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

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We have to forgive the people who’ve hurt us, and it has nothing to do with whether or not that person deserves forgiveness. They don’t deserve forgiveness, but then, we don’t deserve it either.
We forgive those who’ve hurt us because God forgives us for how we’ve hurt him. To be honest, the reason we often have a hard time forgiving others is because we don’t feel forgiven ourselves.
But when Jesus died on the cross he paid the penalty for every sin that you or I ever committed or will ever commit. And if we’re going to be forgiving people, we first need to accept God’s forgiveness that comes from Jesus Christ.
Also, we should forgive knowing we will need God’s forgiveness sometime in the future. Jesus said, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15 NIV).

Carrying a grudge just keeps us stuck in the past, and when we’re stuck in the past, we’re controlled by the past. Our unforgiveness can control us. The Bible says, “Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple” (Job 5:2 NLT).

The Bible also says that only the foolish harbor a grudge (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Accept forgiveness from God and give forgiveness to others.