Pay It Forward

Matt.18: ³³ “Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’”

Someone once said that when you are seated, your flaws are not very noticeable. But the minute you step up and begin to go higher,

flaws become more obvious to people. In the same vein, the flaws of people in authority are glaring because of how high they have ascended in the positions of authority and leadership. And because of the selfish or irresponsible decisions of certain people in authority, the entire nation suffers. The thought of showing them compassion stirs up some heated emotions. But we can still have compassion on them; they are still God’s children, God can save and change them. So let us be compassionate and pray for our leaders.

They were going to stone the woman that was caught in adultery. But she went to Jesus and He forgave her. We cannot tell if the thief on the cross ever returned what he stole but God forgave him. The God we serve, we are emulating, and building our character after, can restore anybody. My life was not perfect before I surrendered to Christ. I would not trade where I am now for anything. It only gets better with Christ. Some people who are living for God today were once drug addicts and some had committed murder. Paul started out as Saul and he had a reputation for killing Christians. But Christ had compassion on him.

Compassion is very important and it takes drawing on God’s strength to be compassionate in certain things that people do especially when they really hurt us and it affects us. Years ago, a young boy walked into a Bible study in a church and he executed many people. But guess what? The family members of the people that were killed forgave the boy out of compassion. That act of compassion in turn released their hearts. When you are bitter at someone that has done wrong or is acting irresponsibly, you are losing both ways. As painful as those circumstances are, I would say because of the compassion of Christ upon your life, you are where you are today and you are getting better and stronger. Just draw on God’s strength and choose to love; free yourself of that desire to see them hurt.

Prayer: Father, please heal my heart and empower me to be compassionate even when it hurts, in Jesus Name. Amen!