Volume 47 Number 6 February 2005
Do you or I have to do any thing spectacular to enter
Heaven? Do we have to become an evangelist? Go all over the
world preaching the Gospel; learning other languages to go
to Heaven? While God has put it in the hearts of some to do these
things, He has something more close to home for the rest of
us. God would rather have us give a child a cup of cold water
out of compassion and love, than service just done out of duty
begrudgingly. By sending Jesus, God made it simple. He has made it
where we aren’t so burdened with duty as the Jews were; for
us He simplified it to love: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy
being” and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12:29-31.) The Jews were unable to do all the commandments God gave them.
(Galatians 3:10,11) Hundreds of years of failures.
So God simplified it by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Eternity
is offered to every human in the world. (Mark 16:15-18) Jesus was teaching us to love out of compassion, not merely
duty, showing us with His many examples love in action! One
of these examples is found in Luke 7:13-15. Whether you are a hundred years old or just a youngster,
when you do something for God’s child you are doing some
thing for God. (Mark 10:14,15) If you do some thing for an enemy of yours, or God’s, God
smiles on you. If by your kindness you win over a lost soul,
the Angels rejoice in Heaven. We are human. We have to contend with Satan and the
fallen angels; otherwise known as Demons. God tested us humans by strict rules under the Mosaic Law.
The Demons tempted and the Jews were found lacking. But
we would be no different. God has, in a sense, treated us as adults by not giving us
particular jobs like the Jews but rather, He puts opportunity
in front of us all; giving all a chance to please Him. Christ considers it a personal favor to Him if we feed the
hungry, clothe the naked or a cup of water to the thirsty. (Matthew
25:34-40) When we do things out of compassionate love we please
God more than at any other time. Why do I say this compassionate love is freely given?
When you give compassionately, it is to please others, not
ourselves. When you do it for a stranger, or someone who is
looked down on by others, God looks down on us and says,
‘That’s my child; that’s what I want from you.’ Duty and service are great and God loves us for it. But
spontaneous love with no regard for reward, or care (or even
thought of) something in return: that’s what God wants from
us! Pure love+ - Don’t be anxious about taking care of our
own needs, let Him handle that. Jesus says in Matthew 6:26 that the birds of the air are taken
care of: Are we not more valuable then they? He doesn’t ask us to give up every earthly possession and
go serve Him. But as Paul says, when opportunity is placed
before us, use your possessions to do good. Do it. (Galatians
6:10) I don’t know the exact method to give us this mindset, but
I know a part of it is to come to Church with other Christians,
learn from their humility and examples of loving-kindness and
mercy. And - lots of prayers. So as we are given opportunity to have compassion on others, let the love of
God flow from our hearts. (Romans 5:5) Jesus wants every one of us to be with Him in heaven, but
it is up to us to make the decision to go there. We have to
confess Him as the Son of God, repent and be baptized, then
do our very best to do His will each day.
No.
No.
Do it!