Episode 2284 - Lesson 4 - Thursday Jan. 23 - Compassion(ate) and Passion(ate)

The God of the Bible is compassionate and passionate, and these divine emotions are supremely exemplified in Jesus Christ. God is sympathetic (compare with Isa. 63:9, Heb. 4:15), deeply affected by the sorrows of His people (Judg. 10:16, Luke 19:41), and willing to hear, answer, and comfort (Isa. 49:10, 15; Matt. 9:36; Matt. 14:14). Read 1 Corinthians 13:4–8. In what ways does this passage call us to reflect God’s compassionate and amazing love in our relationships with others? We long to be in relationship with persons who exemplify the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8. But how often do we seek to become this kind of person toward others? We cannot make ourselves long-suffering and kind; we cannot make ourselves not be envious, conceited, rude, or self-seeking. We cannot muster a love in ourselves that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” and “never fails” (1 Cor. 13:7, 8, NKJV). Such love can be exemplified in our lives only as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And praise God that the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into the hearts of those who, by faith, are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 5:5). By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, in what practical ways might we respond to, and reflect, God’s profoundly emotional, but always perfectly righteous and rational, love? First, the only appropriate response is to worship the God who is love. Second, we should respond to God’s love by actively showing compassion and benevolent love to others. We should not simply be comforted in our Christian faith but should be motivated to comfort others. Finally, we should recognize that we cannot change our hearts, but that only God can. So, let us ask God to give us a new heart for Him and for others—a pure and purifying love that elevates what is good and removes the chaff from within. Let our prayer be: “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, . . . so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12, 13, NKJV). Why is a death to self and to the selfishness and corruption of our natural hearts the only way to reveal this kind of love? What are the choices that we can make in order to be able to die this death to self?