August 15

“Has a wall been raised between you and someone you love due to a ‘stand’ you feel you just had to take?....Are we perhaps suffering this current loneliness because our motives were not clear?  Did we perhaps become moved with condemnation instead of compassion?”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S. 8/15

Eugenia has cleared up something for me.  The Lord has put me on the receiving end of the condemnation that Eugenia speaks of in order to help me understand that I am guilty of having done the same thing to others.  It really helps to “walk in another’s shoes” for a while to gain a better understanding.  This is what Christ did for us--not because He needed the experience in order to understand--but instead so that we would know that He does understand.  We are left without an argument on this point!  What has been made clear to me is that if my stand for what is right lacks compassion for the person who is in the wrong I am going to condemn them in my heart.  I may not call it that--I may call it “hurt” or “confusion” or even “anger”, but the effect is still the same--to condemn.  I’m picturing a dilapidated building with a sign nailed to the door “Condemned!”  Without stating it, the sign is saying “Stay Out!”  Compassion, on the other hand, has “Welcome!” written all over it.  A heart filled with compassion when it takes a stand for what is right will overlook the wrong done.  It will have “second chance” written all over it.  This is what God has offered us and we, therefore, need to offer others.

“Behold, we call those happy who were steadfast.  You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”  James 5:11