How Are You Going to Love?

 

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because theywere harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples,”The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:36-38

Jesus had compassion for the distressed, the dejected, the lost. A few years ago, I was so hemmed in by my need to serve on God’s personal “God Squad,” handing out sin citations, that my love for the lost was overridden by my prideful need to defend God’s truth. I was still moved by the innocent who were maligned and hurt, but immune to the sinners birthed from a corrupt culture. It was then God showed me if I were to love the lost, I would need more empathy for the “guilty” than for the innocent. I would need compassion. And slowly, He gave me a heart of compassion, a compassion that compels me to love in action. A voluntary act of my will, a yielding to the Holy Spirit. Compassion that compels forces your heart to pay attention with intention. It kneels down to your child to listen with your eyes. It reaches across the table at that next family gathering. It knocks on your neighbor’s door. It extends itself at a ragged shirt sleeve and outstretched hand.

Close your eyes and think about someone whom you love with your whole heart. Someone easy to love. Then create a mental montage of those who may not have loved you in return. Now stop, and think about the family member you are called to love, but just can’t? If they died today would you know where they would spend eternity? If you doubt it is in heaven, do you feel that is their just reward? Or do you feel compelled by the same compassion to serve the helpless, to leave the ninety-nine sheep, and seek the one that is lost?

In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus identified the needs and saw that the workers were few. Do you think he was only speaking to His disciples after a series of mega-picnics that fed thousands? Or is His word living and active today and it includes us. The answer is yes, we are His disciples. In verse 38, Jesus tells us to ask (pray) the Lord to send, some translations say force, the workers into his harvest field. What if, just what if, you were praying and God commanded you to harvest the field? Could you do it steeped in the confines of judgement and condemnation with arms crossed? Or suffused in His grace and mercy like those loving arms, outstretched on the cross?

Agape, Kristianne