Complaining, Complacency, and Compassion (Part 3)

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  John 13:34-35

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Well, Jesus gave up His life for us.  Do you love others like that?

Sure, yeah!  I would give up my life for my husband, my son, my daughter, my best friend, etc.!  I love others!

It's easy to love our friends and family sacrificially.  But are they the only people in the world that God loves?

No.  Not by a long shot.

Jesus demonstrated over and over and over again that he loved (loves) people of low stature.  Whether it was the woman at the well, lepers, the poor, the sick, the disabled, or little children, Jesus loved them all.  His heart for the hurting and the lowly was clear and evident when He was healing people, restoring them to life, talking with them, walking with them...read the Gospels and you will see over and over and over again that Jesus' heart is clearly invested in that group of people.

So where do we, as prosperous, comfortable, and pampered Christians, get off thinking that our comfortable lifestyle supersedes caring for the very people that Jesus tended to?

I will confess that I struggle with selfishness, especially since Ryan has been diagnosed with cancer.  I occasionally have the attitude, "Well, I'm going through a rough time in my life, so I deserve to be selfish about material desires and how I spend my time."  My attitude towards that is flat out wrong.  We (Ryan and Kendra) don't get a free pass to be disobedient to the Lord just because our lives are tough.

Something that we have been convicted of many times during the last several months (hey, we're slow learners) is that if we are to live our lives in radical obedience to God, then our compassion for those that God loves (which is everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, age, gender, nationality, disability, economic status, smell, health, and grammar) should be overflowing from our hearts into their lives.  One of the simplest ways that we have done this is to sponsor Lonyamal, a twelve-year-old boy from Kenya through Compassion International.  As much as I love praying for Lonyamal, writing to him, and sending him monetary gifts, I can't help but feel that God is asking more of me.

What does this look like?  For me, I'm not quite sure yet.  I am praying that God would direct me to more opportunities to have an impact in people's lives and to show them Christlike compassion.  I have some opportunities with my students to show them love and compassion, and that's one of the primary ways that I am trying (and occasionally failing) to live out the commandment to love others.  But again, I feel that there is more that will be asked of me.  Lord, open my eyes.

I also know that God has continuously been working in my husband's heart to see people in a different light.  One of the things that he has always struggled with is to judge people before he ever knows them (don't worry, I have his permission to share this).  Before he was diagnosed, Ryan tended to overlook or ignore people that were clearly poor and shabbily dressed.  He feels as though his eyes have been totally opened since last April.  He recently was driving through Hart and noticed three individual people walking down the road, downtrodden, shabby, and dejected.  Instead of making judgement about how they must have lived their lives in order to get to such a sorry state, he felt his heart overflow with compassion for them and felt even more strongly convicted to share the hope that he has with those that are hurting.

If you are sitting here, reading this and wondering whether or not there is something more that you could be doing to show the same compassion that Jesus has for people, the answer is more than likely yes.  We all have areas of our lives that we could convert from chasing pleasure to making a difference.  I know that I certainly do.  The question is, are you willing to give up some of your closely guarded time, some precious money, or your comfort in order to be obedient and demonstrate love to others?

Complaining.  Are you complaining about insignificant troubles in your life?  Do you have spirit of thankfulness for the blessings you've been given?

Complacency.  Are you sold out for God's Kingdom?  Are you wholly committed to living your life according to His purposes?

Compassion.  Do you love the same people that God loves?  He loves every person.  Are you ready to demonstrate compassion in a real, tangible way?

Lest I ever come across as arrogant or as if I have all of my ducks in a row, let me tell you guys that these three lessons are things that I am continuously being challenged with.  I complain a lot.  My spiritual life has been in shambles the last month or so since I've been struggling with personal issues and I've fallen victim (again) to complacency.  And even though I think that God has done incredibly painful but good work in our hearts to be more compassionate towards others, I have a long way to go until I'm a great model for that.  As I have written these messages, I have been really frank with people and flat out challenging others because these have been the words that the Lord has laid up on my heart.

Thank you guys for letting me be real here and for continuing to pray for my family.  Even though it's a little scary to be transparent, I know that God is doing work through us and it is a blessing to be along for the ride as He teaches us more and more about what it means to be radically obedient to Him.

Complaining, Complacency, and Compassion (Part 2)

Whoops, here's part 2.  Sorry about the delay, life has been at warp speed lately!  And that's kind of a good thing...busyness is normalcy for the Prudhomme family.  In case you missed it, my post about complaining was the first part of my three-part blog series.

I love coffee, in case you had forgotten.  If you want to be friends with me, offering me coffee is a surefire way to move along our friendship.

In the morning on my way to work, there is nothing that I love more than to enjoy a cup of piping hot coffee with vanilla, hazelnut, or amaretto creamer.  If I forget to make it at home (which is more often than not), then a quick McDonald’s or Starbucks stop is often in order.  Oftentimes, I find myself the coffee ninja at work, stealthily grabbing a mug of coffee from the office just before first hour starts (Amanda, I know I at least owe the office coffeepot at least one coffee can…I promise I’ll do that sometime soon!).

If I make coffee at home, I like to hold onto the cup the whole way to school.  My son watches me drink it on the way to Montague, where I drop him off.  Is it any surprise that “coffee” is already in his limited vocabulary?  He says “coffee” and then he usually immediately follows up with “yuck”.  I’m not sure if he’s genetically related to his father and I…that’s never something that we would say.

Anyway, so why am I rambling about coffee? I’m getting there. Once I get to first hour, I usually set my mug down and start teaching.  I’ll have a couple of sips here and there, but sometimes the mug is abandoned for a lengthy time period as I go about my daily business of shaping lives and imparting knowledge.  Inevitably, I will come back to the mug as second hour nears and I will take a sip.  Sadly, travel mugs still have a long ways to go in preventing coffee from ever getting cold.

Yuck!  Lukewarm coffee!  Often I spit it right back into the mug.

Guess what?  That feeling of disgust that I get over lukewarm coffee is exactly how God feels about complacent Christians.

Revelations 3:14-18
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
   These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."

I have statements to make that might rock your world.

Just because you darken the doorstep of a church on a regular basis, does not mean that you are a passionate Christian.

Just because you read your Bible on a fairly regular basis, does not mean that you are a passionate Christian.

Just because you pray, does not mean that you are a passionate Christian.

I’m not condemning Christians that go to church, read their Bibles, and pray.  I feel quite the opposite: all of those things are totally essential components of our Christian walk and should be done.

But is there a passion in your heart to see God’s kingdom be furthered and to serve Him recklessly?

Is there a yearning in your heart to know His character more intimately, to feel His presence in your life more strongly?

Is there an aching in your heart for the same people that break God’s heart: the orphan, the widow, and the lost?

Being obedient to God is more than just following rules and having good behavior - it's an all-encompassing, totally motivating, deep and insatiable desire to see God's work be done.  It's what drives one to wake up in the morning and do what they're called to do, and to reach out to the hurting.  It's what drove men to literally drop everything and follow after their Savior.  It's what drove Paul to endure unthinkable hardships to see God's work be done.  It's what calls people to dig deep into their pockets and give well over the standard 10% of their income to the Lord.

Note that the passage from Revelations says, "I know your deeds."  If you love the Lord with an all-encompassing passion, the way you live your life reflects that.  How you spend your time, your talents, and your treasure is going to be a reflection on the depth of that passion.  If you are insular and selfish, you'll probably spending the overwhelming majority of your time, talents, and treasure on yourself, your house, and your own family.

Comfort is the biggest killer of this passion.  Comfort breeds complacency.  If you are content with your cute little life, your comfortable microcosm of Christian culture, and your like-minded group of friends, then I would seriously challenge you to find a way to step outside your comfort zone and see what God may have in store for you.  Following God is not just about going to church , but about being recklessly and passionately devoted to the things that He cares for.  What have you done lately that has stretched you?  What are you committed to doing for the Lord that makes your life even remotely similar to Paul's life?  If you can't find anything, then you might be a complacent Christian, as unpalatable as lukewarm coffee.