Compassion: 30 Days of HeartworkSample

 He Let Go, We Let Go

HEART //

When God wanted to change the world, what did He do? He let go. The Father let go of Jesus. Jesus let go of any position or power and became the most vulnerable of creatures ─ a human baby. The greatest example we can follow is the one God displayed for us. As He looked at the world He created, He saw a society that was filled with pain, sin and brokenness. Jesus chose to SPEND HIMSELF on us. He let go of His very life so that we could be free! “This is how we know what love is.” That’s a line from today’s verse that we might want to pay attention to. 

If we want to love the way Jesus loves, we must let go of our grasp on our own self-serving certainties, comfort and even independence. This can be really hard, but we are not alone! The Lord is asking us to follow in His way. We can look to a Father who understands the difficulty of letting go, and respond to His call. We can look to Jesus, who knows what it is to spend Himself, and lean on Him for strength. Isn’t our goal to be like Him? 

God asks us to open our eyes to others who are in need and to “love them with actions and truth.” It seems that to God, loving others and letting go of “self” are inseparable. Often, we attempt to love others and still have ALL of the comforts and conveniences that our hearts desire. What if there is an aspect of true freedom and happiness that can only come by letting go of things that hold a position in our hearts that God wants to hold? It is the incredible God-kind-of-love that asks something so great of us, and then gives us more than we ever could have imagined in return!

We will spend the rest of the week exploring what this means in our lives. We can be encouraged that as God is calling us to let go of some things, we are not alone; we are serving Someone who understands, Someone who has walked this road of letting go long before us. 

WORK //

Jesus spent Himself for us. Think about several ways God spent (and spends!) Himself on your behalf. And yet … no matter how abundantly God provides for us, we often tend to notice others who have more. It’s human nature! We notice those with more opportunities, more talents or better stuff. Take a moment and reflect on how blessed you really are. Make a list of God’s blessings in your life regarding relationships, education, basic needs, resources and abilities. Ask Him to begin to expose the areas in your life you are holding too tightly … where you may be trying to control or make things happen without open hands or a willingness to surrender to Him.