Shepherd of Faith

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Tag: compassion

Wisdom is vindicated by her works

December 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments
wisdom is vindicated by her works
Let’s pray for the wisdom of Solomon!

Wisdom is vindicated by her works! Actions speak louder than words? Possibly? This week has been one of connections for me. In the past few days, I’ve made a number of connections between my daily Scripture readings. Today is no different.

matthew 11:16-19

“To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’

The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

In addition reading the Gospel of Matthew today, I read about Solomon in 1 Kings 3:5-14, 16-28. That’s what I thought of when I read “wisdom is vindicated by her works” in this Gospel

Jesus compares “this generation” to children. He gives an example of how inconsistent they are in their decision making. He illustrates how judgmental and unwise they are.

POWER OF PRAYER

Now compare these “children” to Solomon. A king who prayed for compassion and wisdom. He prayed to make the right decisions in his work, nothing else. Specifically he prayed: “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and distinguish right from wrong. ” WOW!

WHAT ABOUT ME?

Solomon’s prayer made me think. How often do I call on God for guidance and wisdom in my decision making? How often am I as judgmental as the “children of this generation?” How often am I judged and affected by these same “children?”

Wisdom is vindicated by her works. I believe Jesus is saying: actions speak louder than words! In other words, judgment by others doesn’t matter. What really matters is how we live our lives. Being called a drunkard or possessed by a demon really didn’t not matter to Jesus. What mattered was the work He and John did to glorify the Kingdom. John lived detached, proclaiming the kingdom and baptizing people and Jesus – well, you know………

So today let’s pray, as Solomon did, with total dependence on God for wisdom and compassion. That He guide all our decisions and give us, His servants, an understanding heart to love and not to judge. Click here to see an old post on this Gospel with a prayer I created at that time.

God bless you!

The compassion of Jesus and the mission

December 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments
compassion
Will you seize the opportunity?
the compassion of jesus and the mission

The compassion of Jesus and the Mission. Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8 reads as follows: Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give.”

There’s so much here to unpack. I’d like to keep this short, so I’m going to simply outline what stood out to me. I think it’s a little different than what we’re used to hearing about this Gospel.

The harvest

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” For some reason I thought about the opportunities we are given each day to be Christ-like.

“So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Pray for an increase in compassion and peace in the world.

seize the opportunity

The verses today spoke to me about the necessity of preaching the Gospel through our actions not words. But I think it’s more than just being a good person. I think it’s about seizing opportunities. Opportunities to make people living in the margins feel seen and counted. We can do this by sharing the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

shared grace

“Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give.” – We receive God’s grace everyday, an unmerited gift. We are called to be a conduit of that grace to those around us. That they too may receive God’s grace through us.

We can make a conscious effort to reach out to those in need by simply being present. Does someone seem distant, distracted, depressed or anxious? May we be a conduit of God’s love and compassion. It’s our mission!

God bless you!

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