Neighborology: Living Out Christ's CompassionSample

Being Made New

Really caring about other people is hard work. It is beyond challenging. This is true for me and, I believe, for all of us. That is, until we become more like Jesus through spiritual re­generation and transformation. Regeneration, or being made new, means that we turn over to God all dependence or alle­giance we have to people, places, or things. We submit to God all addictions, habits, or attempts to please people instead of Him. This process of transformation is God leading a holy war in our lives, as He did in Deuteronomy 7, where anything belonging to the opposing gods must be totally destroyed (v. 2–6; 25–26). Re­generation, transformation, and renewal, then, have to do with who is in charge of our lives. It means that we must please God above all others.

Personally, I have a prideful hunger to be appreciated. I have been a people pleaser most of my life. As a result, I am in a continual process of allowing God to be the focus of who I am and what I do—moving beyond just knowing about Christ to knowing Him personally and knowing that I am loved by Him unconditionally. It is also important for people pleasers like me to spend quality time with God.

Jesus often took time out to spend time with His Father. He often retreated to a quiet place (see Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16). What set Jesus apart was His intimacy with God, which denoted a close, loving and trusting relationship with the one He called “Abba” (Mark 14:36). Jesus was a person of prayer. The busier He got, the more He turned to God in prayer. Why? Because He knew God! He understood God as a loving Father whose main interest was to love, teach, and heal His people.

To know God is to have the same relationship with Him as Christ does. The difference is that we are sinful and need forgiveness. Biblical counselor Larry Crabb states in his book Encouragement: The Key to Caring that sometimes he is afraid of God and expects anger. “As I await the pronouncement of my well-deserved rejection, I hear His loving words and see His loving smile. And I am eternally encouraged for He has spoken from His love to my fear.” The biblical truth is that God loves us; and although we—in our sinful nature—are worthy of rejection, He has forgiven us and adopted us as His children.