Are We Compassionate?

March 12, 2024March 12, 2024 By nancy.new1234 Be the Hands & Feet of JESUS / Doing What We Know We Must Do! / To Be Saved Through the Shed Blood of JESUS

“There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and His bond servants will serve Him;
they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”
(The Revelation to John 22: 3-4 NASB)

Last evening, the evangelist told a story, one of men who demonstrated compassion for their friend who was unable to reach Jesus.

Think about those last six words.

WHO

WAS

UNABLE

REACH

JESUS!

Who does our heart bleed for?

Who do we know who does not know Jesus as Savior?

What are we currently doing to help them?

What are we willing to say or do?—Or even—

Are we able to ‘NOT’ say words as we control our tongue—OR—’NOT’ actively do an action—IN ORDER THAT ANOTHER CAN COME TO KNOW JESUS AS THEIR SAVIOR?

How willing are we to be inconvenienced?

How willing are we to be uncomfortable?

How willing are we to leave our comfort zone so that even one more soul does not go to hell?

Are We Compassionate & Concerned for those who walk in ‘LOSTNESS’—or do we merely ‘say’ we are?

The evangelist read from the book of Mark 2: 1-12, retelling the narrative how Jesus was teaching, explaining how the listening crowd pressed into the building, causing a bursting out of people on all sides of the house. These men had heard about ‘this Jesus,’ about the man who could bring healing, and they knew—EXACTLY WHAT THEIR FRIEND, THE PARALYTIC, NEEDED.

Their friend needed a touch from the healer!

So, the four friends made a plan to get their friend to Jesus.

Let’s get a stretcher.
Let’s carry our friend to Jesus.

They were sure; they were confident—If our friend can just be in the presence of the HEALER, then our sick friend will be healed!

The narrative goes that they ALMOST accomplished just exactly what they set out to do, save the last. The crowd was too large; there was no possible way their friend could reach Jesus because the four friends could not press, nor squeeze their way inside the house.

They did not give up their plan!
They were not deterred!
They did not show frustration or shout words of no value!
These four friends merely improvised!

In seeing how they were unable to reach Jesus by walking through the door, these four friends took it upon themselves to make a hole in the roof.

YES, THAT IS RIGHT.

THEY KNEW THEIR SICK FRIEND NEEDED JESUS, SO THEY MADE A WAY FOR THEIR FRIEND TO SEE JESUS!

I can only imagine how the crowd reacted that day when they saw a bed lowered from the roof, as a paralyzed man (maybe even a man they knew by name) slowing came into the room—right where Jesus sat teaching.

We are not told how the crowd reacted.
We are not told how the four friends reacted.

WE ARE ONLY TOLD WHAT JESUS DID NEXT WHEN HE SAW THEIR ACT OF COMPASSION FOR THEIR FRIEND!

“And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
[and then just five verses later, after confronting the scribes cry of Jesus’ blasphemy, we read]
“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”
And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone,
[the paralyzed man suddenly & immediately stood & took up the bed he had laid upon his whole life & walked outside the house]
so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying,
“We have never seen anything like this.”
(The Gospel According to Mark 2: 5 & 11-12 NASB)

Compassion can be defined as taking action that leads you to come out of your comfort zone.