Mark you’re trying to rush ahead of yourself.
In the beginning I said that it was not good for man to be alone. I made him a companion, but there is a loneliness that precedes the desire for contact with other people. Your most basic need for relationship begins with me. No amount of human contact will make up for alienation from me. Yet it is possible to experience this and not be aware of it. How many people have you seen who are restless and unsatisfied, going from one new endeavor or indulgence to another, looking for something to give them meaning but not knowing what it is and not finding it? I am what they need, and I have given you the job of helping them find me.
For those who crucified me I prayed, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. They had no comprehension of the magnitude of what they did, and I realized this, and prayed on their behalf accordingly. You are not currently in a position to have such knowledge, but you can still follow my example when confronted with the sins of others. In most cases the same principle applies. Even those who are intentionally mean to you do not comprehend the magnitude and consequences of their actions. Do you understand the consequences of everything you do, for better or for worse? You are never wrong to pray mercy and forgiveness for others and for yourself.
I was spending some time with the Lord and I suddenly saw a picture of a large tumbleweed. The sticks and twigs and debris were wrought together in a very cruel looking way. Edges stuck out exposing sharp points.
Surrounding the tumbleweed was a vast expanse of desert. The ground was dry and cracked and the only things moving in the distance were other tumbleweeds.
You live in a world of actions and consequences. Do you find that punishment or even the threat of punishment is the strongest motivation to avoid doing evil? Yet my word says that it is my goodness that leads you to repentance? Do you see me lavishing my goodness on those who choose to be far from me, in order to draw them to me? Does it upset your sense of justice to think that they are getting away with something? Do you see the same dynamic in your own life? I want to be loved more than feared. I want you to understand this spiritual principle because I want you to take part in it, for I have called you to love your enemies.
I sent my daughter, Charity, an email with some of my initial research on compassion. I wondered how it is different from love, as these are two distinct words in the Greek New Testament. I included several definitions from the Greek, but it still wasn’t really clear. Below is some of the awesome revelation she shared with me on her understanding of love vs. compassion. Looks like the surf’s up!
You see the actions of other people, but not the thoughts and intentions of their hearts from which these actions flow. This is reason enough not to judge people’s motives. Do you find it difficult to keep your mind from going there? Do you tend to assume the worst? There may be several possible motives for a given action. Intentional evil is the worst, but many things may be explained by ignorance. If you would be gracious then let your assumptions run to the most benign explanations. Don’t attribute to malfeasance that which can be explained by ignorance. It is better still not to attribute motive at all.
Do you recognize my voice? You have my promise that my sheep will. One attribute of my voice is persistence. Do you seem to have a continuous stream of random thoughts that come and go without much notice? Yet do you also have thoughts that keep coming back, as if you were being intentionally reminded? Perhaps you are. You also have my promise that I will call all things into remembrance. I want you to be patient, and I display this quality myself. If I am serious about getting a point across to you I will repeat it as often as necessary.
I was standing in the young mans living room thinking; I can’t believe this guy called 911. Terrible right? Insensitive, I know. It’s what I was feeling at the moment. We’d been busy and I was tired.
Have you encountered people who think that I was a good teacher and a good person, but are not willing to acknowledge my true identity? This may sound like a sympathetic position, but it is not even logically defensible. I must be better or worse than this. For I kept insisting that I was the Son of God. The prophets of old declared the truth of my coming and identity but they made no claim of deity for themselves. If Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel had they had they would have been stoned and their words not included in the Bible. You cannot think of me only as a good teacher. If I wasn’t who I claimed to be I would be the biggest fraud of all time.
