Be Compassionate Toward Yourself

November 18, 2016

Be Compassionate Toward Yourself

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them,

because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Mark 6:34

The longer I am a follower of Jesus, the more I am convinced that the attribute that best describes Jesus is compassion. Whenever I think about the compassion of Jesus I am generally drawn to one of the stories told by the great communicator of God’s grace, Brennan Manning (1934-2013). Those of you who have followed my writings for some time know that my favorite Manning story concerns his friend Ed Farrell. “Several years ago, Edward Farrell, a priest from Detroit, went on a two-week summer vacation to Ireland to visit relatives. His one living uncle was about to celebrate his 80th birthday. On the great day, Ed and his uncle got up early. It was before dawn. They took a walk along the shores of Lake Killarney and stopped to watch the sunrise. They stood side by side for a full twenty minutes and then resumed walking. Ed glanced at his uncle and saw that his face had broken into a broad smile. Ed said, "Uncle Seamus, you look very happy."

          "I am."

          Ed asked, "How come?"

          And his uncle replied,

"The Father of Jesus is very fond of me."

If the question were put to you, "Do you honestly believe that God likes you?" -- not loves you because theologically he must, but does He like you -- how would you answer?

If you could answer, "The Father is very fond of me," there would come a relaxedness, a serenity and a compassionate attitude toward yourself that is a reflection of God’s own tenderness.” (I think I first read this story in Manning’s book, Ruthless Trust)

As I live in our very angry society, one of my goals is to strive to maintain a compassionate attitude toward (myself) that is a reflection of God’s own tenderness for me.

Isaiah reminds us that Jesus “was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief . . . He was despised . . . it was our weaknesses he carried . . . it was our sorrows that weighed him down . . . he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins . . . He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:3-5). This Jesus is our High Priest, and he “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Jesus fully knows what it is like for you to be you! Jesus exudes compassion for you from every pore in his being. Feed on his compassion for you, and may you be compassionate toward yourself!   

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.