One day we will each have to give an account for what God has given us to do. Let us be sure that we don’t take what God has given to us and bury it away, but use it in a way that honors the God who gave it to us. The following series of lessons, brought to us by Jeff Keele is a good reminder to put on the servant attitude and work to bring people to our Father. By living in an way that mimics His Son’s life we can be servants for Him.
Paul calls upon each of us to change the way we think: About ourselves, about one another, and about our gifts. If we make excuses for not using our gifts we are in danger of experiencing the same condemnation as the slave who received the one talent in Jesus’ parable (Matthew 25:14-30).
Do you remember something about which you have been enthusiastic? Perhaps, you were so excited that you couldn’t even sleep the night before. When Paul exhorts us to be “fervent in spirit,” he is utilizing an idiom from his day, it literally meant “to boil in the spirit.”
Do we serve the Lord with enthusiasm? Can others tell that we care for one another? If your answer is no, then I must ask you, what are you doing to change things?
In the Old Testament, we have in great detail, at times, the compassion of God. He is compassionate by nature, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to…
How many of us have been unwilling to forgive a person even one time when they sought our forgiveness? How many of us grudgingly forgave one time, but were unwilling to do so a second time? How many of us would have been willing to go Peter’s seven times, but set our limit there?
According to Mark 15:39, there was a centurion who was standing right in front of Jesus at the cross. When he saw the way Jesus took His last breath, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Compassion is to be shown to the regulars as we might consider them. Rebellious people receive compassion because of who God is, not what they have done, because of his grace, not because they deserve it, because he is just, not because they are right. Repentant people are shown compassion because they learn to fear the LORD, usually because of the punishment put upon them; when rebellious or disobedient people return to God and cry out for deliverance, God shows them compassion. God wants to show his compassion to you.
The question for each of us is simple: To whom will you prove to be a neighbor? Will you be the hands of Jesus by being a messenger of His compassion to a world that is lost and in great need.
You and I still have the same choice before us today:
a. Either, Jesus is a complete fraud,
1) If this is true, then you and I must avoid Him at all costs.
b. Or, everything He said about Himself is true.
1) In which case He is the Son of God.
2) You and I have no other to whom we may turn for our salvation.
Which will you decide?
If you are a Christian, you have received God’s compassion and received Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins. Be motivated by God’s compassion to pass on compassion. Demonstrate God’s compassion through good deeds and teaching truth. If you are not yet a Christian, receive this information: God is compassionate. He loved you so much that he sent his Son to be a living example of his compassion. He demonstrated his love for you by sending his Son to die for your sins and your forgiveness.
God’s compassion is like that of a father for his children .“Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:13-14).
Jesus told His brothers that His time differed from their time. They could come and go without any significance — for them any time was right. He, on the other hand, always pleased His Father, God, so His time movements were those that His Father desired.
Everybody who desires to see Jesus can see his revelation in creation, see him in his word, and see the changes in others who came to see Jesus. Jesus comes to the rescue when his believing followers “go into all the world and preach the gospel.”
