“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 NLT.
The wounds you suffer create compassion for the pain others bear.
My thoughts and comments today are about “being compassionate.”
You live in a broken world among others who are broken, some more than you, some less. Tragedies and suffering abound, seeming at times that being shielded from the plight of others is a means of survival. The current world view is much different than that to which the Gospel calls you. Let’s look a little further into Jesus’ words from the “Beatitudes,” about living exemplary lives. Read Matthews 5:1-12 NLT.
(1) Being real. To those who prize nothing of their own to boast, God gives all He has to offer. See Matthew 5:3 NLT. There are times when what you have can blind you to what you could have.
(2) Being compassionate. To those who mourn a pain they cannot bear, God gives what He alone can best provide. “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 NLT. Mourning can touch your life in diverse ways. Through repentance, you can mourn a wrong done by you; with forgiveness, you can mourn a wrong done to you; and by compassion, you can mourn a wrong done to another. Compassion is the cure for self-absorption and produces consideration for the plight of others. We are all wounded healers. Compassion is God’s way for you to be both healed and healer. The wounds you suffer can create compassion for the pain others bear.
Jesus is always your example, prophesied by Isaiah as engineering a great exchange, “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief . . to comfort all who mourn, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Isaiah 53:3/61:3 NKJV. Your God does not merely commiserate with you; He lavishes what you lack and transforms what you experience. “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” Matthew 5.4 MSG.
As I write, I hear a simple melody and lyrics from years earlier, “Let my heart be broken; Let my heart be broken; Let my heart be broken; With the things that break the heart of God.” Embracing God’s compassion for others fosters empathy for the struggles and sufferings of others. That is being exemplary, “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted . . Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” 1 Peter 3:8/1 Thessalonians 5:11 NKJV.
God’s promise is true, “. . they will be comforted.” Jesus “comforted” those who entered the suffering of others, responding with compassion. “’Come, you who are blessed by My Father’ . . and the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing so to Me.’” Read Matthew 25:34-40 NLT. But He also reserved the strongest rebuke and separation from those who were unresponsive to others. Read vs. 42-45. God’s comfort comes to those who comfort others. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NLT.
My prayer for you today is that you embrace compassion and extend it to others.