Principle 8 - Just
a reminder that I am still looking at Proverbs 3 and I am at verses 27-28 –
27 Do not withhold good
from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. 28 Do
not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when
you already have it with you.”Luke 10:29 - Who is my neighbor? Answer: Anyone who is in need.
1 John 3:17 “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
There is a definite difference between
“pity” and “compassion.” Pity looks at our
neighbor and says; “Oh, those poor people” and feels sorry for them, and goes
on with life…Compassion how-ever, looks at our neighbor with tear filled eyes,
and says “I must do something to help.”…. Often we are not physically able to
be there and provide personal help, but there are ways we can help. Compassion
will surpass sympathy and do whatever it can!
#1
of course, we can pray. We can pray for God to somehow give wisdom as to
providing for the needs of those affected. #2 For those who are able, we can also provide by giving to those organizations like the Red Cross and others who provide disaster relief. We may feel that we can’t do much, if anything personally or on an individual basis, but maybe there is something we can do together, as a church, as the body of Christ.
Brotherly love, is a love that gives. The command for God’s people to love each other has been around since the Jewish Old Testament Law. Leviticus 19:18 says, "’Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." In John 15:12 Jesus’ command is for us to love each other... just as I have loved you." It is a sacrificial love…a love that puts others and their needs first in times of need. In John 13:34—Jesus also said “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John takes it even deeper when he says that “If you claim you are a child of God and yet “hate” any man” - in John’s sense of the word - because of his face, his place or his race – “you are walking in the darkness”…And, the love of God is not in you.
Sure it’s easy loving my wife, and loving my friends, but loving people I find irritating, people who I think are weird, or loving people who just grate me the wrong way...that takes God’s love. That’s why the word John chooses here is the Greek word “agape”, which describes God’s kind of love. The kind of love that’s given freely and generously, regardless of the worthiness of the person. C. S. Lewis was right when he wrote in Mere Christianity that we spend too much time worrying about whether we really love our neighbor or not, when we should just act as if we do, and as we pray for them and do loving things for them in their time of need, love will happen. When we give way to feelings and attitudes of hatred that John describes we harden our own heart.
Our love for one another is our badge of identity as Christians. John is telling us the love we have is the badge that identifies us. When a police officer comes to your door, they will identify themselves by showing you their badge…When we claim to be saved, the badge people will see is the love - or lack there of - we have in our lives.
Agape love is a love that gives. “For God so loved the world,…that He gave…His only Son” The love motivates the action. John says “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, (pity is not enough…“That’s too bad” or “I feel so sorry for you” won’t cut it…) But love with actions and truth…true compassion. We need to put hands and feet on our words and our profession of faith.
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