Healing Rays of Righteousness

The Essence of Life is LOVE

Every human being has three things in common. We need to be loved, we need to learn to love others, and we have people in our lives who need our love. Being loved and loving others is the proven, solid foundation and expression of genuine, authentic living. Truly, the essence of life is in receiving and giving LOVE.

When I read chapter 2 of apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, I hear his unashamed, genuine expression of his love for them. And as we follow the flow of his thought, we are exposed to LOVE as God meant it to be lived. It also gives us a guide for loving others.

The first thing we discover in Paul’s letter is that the source of genuine love is Jesus Christ and is not dependent on other people. The love Paul communicated to the church of the Thessalonians was of the kind that the world could neither give nor take away. It was the outflow of Paul’s intimate companionship with Christ. “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.” (v.8). Likewise, the outflow of love from our life is directly proportionate to the inflow of Christ’s love into our life and is not dependent on people loving us.

Paul was free to love in spite of what people said and did to him. Imprisonment and persecution did not diminish his love. Neither did he pout about his rejection at Phillipi. “We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.” (v.2). We need to allow the full impact of that truth to stir within our soul. So often we allow our minds to brood over past hurts, rejections, and disappointments, causing a protective covering to form over our heart so that we will not be hurt again.

And as additional hurts come that covering or wall, continues to thicken until we become incapable of emotionally experiencing warmth and love in relationship with God and others. Also, whenever we love in order to solicit or assure a return of love, we will be disappointed and deeply hurt. The basic truth is that no one can love us as much as we need to be loved. Only Jesus Christ can do that.

Too often we inherit the “If you love me, you will do what pleases me” syndrome from parents who used that phrase as a way of getting obedience. And sadly, many continue playing this game all through their life, and it even tarnishes their understanding and relationship with God.

The indwelling, genuine love of Christ makes us honest, direct, and decisive. Genuine Christ-like love wills the ultimate good of the other and initiates needed steps toward that result. If we have genuine love for others, people will know and feel they are loved, valued, and cherished. And they will know that we are willing to make sacrifices on their behalf, in the same way loving parents do for their children.

There is more to learn from these verses, and I plan to do so in my next blog. Until then, I encourage you to read and thoughtfully ponder the truths I have shared with you, and “live lives worthy of God.”

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 25, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

CULTIVATING COMPASSION

Compassion – “Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortune of others.” “The deep feeling of sharing the suffering of another in the inclination to give aid or support, or to show mercy.”

In order to cultivate compassion as defined above, means I will deeply care about my world and do my best to bring it help. It begins by my choosing to ask God to give me a tender heart that is painfully disturbed by the pain of others and seeks to act in their behalf as Jesus would do.

The scriptures convincingly portray Jesus as a “compassionate” person. Mark’s gospel records a story that clearly reveals Jesus’ heart of compassion. “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. ‘If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,’ he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said, ‘Be healed!’ Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.” (Mark 1:40-42, NLT).

The word “compassion” comes from the same Greek word as “viscera, bowels, intestines” or, as in our vernacular, “guts.”  Mark uses this word to communicate how deeply Jesus feels into the sufferings of the leper. It is as if Jesus himself takes on the suffering of the leper as his own.

Mark does not use the word “pity” because that would be too condescending, or “sympathy” because that would be too superficial. Rather he uses “compassion” to inform the reader that “flesh for flesh, gut for gut’ Jesus feels his way into the leper’s needs.

Mark also makes clear that Jesus did not simply feel with compassion toward the man with leprosy. He “reached out and touched him.”  Violating every medical warning and risking every social taboo, Jesus makes physical contact with the leper, thus confirming his loving concern for the leper and his needs.

This and many other Jesus stories support the conclusion that in order to compassionately respond to the suffering of others, we must first enter into and empathically feel the pain of those seeking our caring assistance.

Paul Brand, a noted physician and author, writes, “In the human body, when an area loses sensory contact with the rest of the body, even when its nourishment system remains intact, that part begins to wither and atrophy. The body poorly protects what it does not feel. So much of the sorrow in the world is due to the selfishness of one living organism that simply does not care when another suffers.”

I think Dr. Brand’s statement can be expanded to include all bodies, whether they be the church, the organization, the community, or the government. There is substantial evidence that such bodies will not appropriately protect what they do not feel. Until they feel the pain of those suffering, these bodies will not respond in appropriate ways to meet their needs.

The challenge of Mark 1:40-45 is to every person, including you and myself, who have the capability and opportunity to make a difference in the life of suffering persons. Indeed, the challenge is for every human to compassionately feel their neighbor’s pain and respond with unselfish acts of caring love. This is God’s command and Jesus’ example.

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 11, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley

Clothed with Compassion

The impressive description of our Christian identity as “God’s holy people” in the first half of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, is the wondrous thought that empowers Paul’s “Therefore” in chapter 3, verse twelve. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” 

Paul is urging us fellow believers in Jesus to understand that since God has chosen us to be his Kingdom ambassadors in the world, we are expected to be appropriately dressed with the beautiful and lovely garments from God’s own wardrobe of Jesus-like virtues. These garments will visibly set us apart and identify us as the people of God who pray “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The first virtue that Paul lists is “compassion.”  To be clothed with “compassion” will be seen in our sympathetic sharing, like Jesus, in the suffering or misfortunes of another, coupled with the desire to give aid, support, and mercy. “Compassion” will also be seen in my being emotionally moved by your pain and seeking to act on your behalf with consoling presence and empathy.

The Gospel writers repeatedly used this word to describe Jesus’ response to others. Matthew 9:36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  Again in 14:14, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”  And in response to the request from two blind men for healing in 20:34, “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”

James 5:11 tells us that “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”  This echoes the psalmist in Psalm 145:8-9, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

And the other Jesus-like virtues in Paul’s list, “kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” are interwoven into this lovely garment of compassion,

Then in verse fourteen, Paul describes the outer garment as love. “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  According to Paul, “love” is the visible outer garment that completes and unites all the parts of our character into a single whole. Being and doing cannot be separated. What we say and do flows out of who we are.

Paul addresses us as “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” As Christians our identity is certain and clear. We are God’s chosen people, and being such, we are expected to be appropriately and fully clothed with his garments of love and compassion every day and in every situation.

Holy compassion is so needed in our communities and nation today. Let us recommit ourselves to caring about our neighborhoods and doing our best in being compassionate and loving.

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – October 4, 2023

www.geigler13.wordpress.com

Ray M. Geigley