I am so bothered right now, and I really just want people to stop it. “Stop what?” you might ask. Well let me tell you. I want people to stop claiming that they are “Christians” while displaying anything but the love of Jesus Christ. Christian by definition means that you are a follower or disciple of Jesus Christ. A student of Jesus Christ. To be a student of Jesus Christ means that you study his life and how he handled people and situations. Well when we look at the behavior of Christ in comparison to the behavior of people that are claiming to be followers of him we find a major disconnect.
You see one of the main things that Jesus was known for during his time on earth was his love and compassion. You see many times in the gospels Jesus is called compassionate. Compassion doesn’t involve being judgmental. Compassion doesn’t involve damning people to hell. Compassion doesn’t involve turning your back on those in need. Compassion doesn’t involve putting other people down to feel better about yourselves. There are so many things that compassion doesn’t involve, but we as “Christians” are known for doing them.
Now that we’ve established what compassion is not let’s talk about some great examples of what compassion is. Compassion is giving sacrificially so that those who are in need around you won’t be without. Compassion involves looking out for the needs of others and not solely focusing on your own. You might not get all of the sleep that you need, you might not buy all of the stuff that you want, you may not get to lay around chilling as much as you like. But that’s the life of a person that shows compassion. It’s not all about you or what you want!
When truly living the life of a Christian you recognize that Jesus lived a life of sacrifice and you are supposed to emulate. As his disciple you study what he did and then you make it a point to do it. He didn’t judge those that were in need when he met them, he took those opportunities to meet their needs. He didn’t condemn those in sin, he spoke a word to them to help them get out of it. In every situation Jesus did all that he could with what he had to change the lives of the people that God brought into contact with him! As his disciple you should purpose to do the same! And if you feel like you can’t or you just won’t maybe you should reconsider what it means to truly be a Christian and whether or not you’re up to the challenge!
