Understanding

Do we think that we really love and understand others? I know that at times I really do not. I really do not show compassion when I really need to be showing compassion. Jesus taught us that we should be so filled with the love of God that we would not judge.

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

Matthew 7:1-3 (The Message)

You want to be happy? Well your, my, happiness depends a great deal on our willingness to understand others and do our best not to judge. Most of us can easily talk about another person's bad qualities, their wickedness, the things that we think we would never do. We can do this for hours and thrive in it and leave that discussion feeling good about ourselves. It is amazing that we can do this for hours at a time, but avoid our faults, wickedness and bad qualities at any cost. Any mention of them causes us to become angry and we begin to think and say things like "how dare they!"

So next time you or I are tempted to talk about the faults of others do this: immediately begin to talk loudly about your own mental and moral shortcomings for the next five minutes and see how you like it. If we do not like to talk about our own faults and it hurts us to do so, we certainly should feel more hurt when saying unkind and harmful things about other people. So train yourself, and eveyr member of your family, to refrain from talking about others.

We do not help others by talking about their faults in public, we only hurt them more. We shame them and they give up trying. You know it because we have all been there! When someone is down they are all too aware of their fault and the reasons they are there. We should pull them out with loving and kind words. So today silently heal yourself of the desire to criticize and judge. This will teach others to be better by your example of a emphathic heart.

Namaste'

Developing Compassion and Loving-Kindness

During the "New Kind of Christian" conference I spoke about having an inner life like that of Jesus. I talked about "thinking like God thinks" and having the mind in you that was in Jesus - Phil. 2:5. Jesus was so full of the love of God that there was room for nothing else in his thoughts, actions, or feelings. How do we get there would be the question. How do we get to a place were we have loving kindness and compassion on everyone, including those we consider enemies? How do we really get to a place to live out the way of Jesus in this passage:

"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

Matthew 5:43-48 (The Message)

This comes only by being able to practice it "outside of the game of life." There is no way to just have compassion on the spot when it is needed. We all have a part of us, I like to call it EGO, that wants to assert its rights, make sure we defend ourselves, and wants to keep us from being hurt. We must use our "quiet times" to sit and think about those that have injured us and put ourselves in "their" shoes so to speak. There is no way for me to develop compassion for the mean clerk at the store if I have not already practiced this scenerio in my mind. There is no reference point for me to pull from, no experience I have had that reminds me to show compassion here. I react the way I "always" do.

I must spend time each day thinking about the ways I am loved, the things I am thankful for, and give myself compassion and loving-kindness. After giving it to myself, I must imagine giving it to someone else when they harm me because, just like me, they are trying to do their best and have forgotten there are other people in the world. I can think of someone specific that has/is causing me problems, or I can think of someone or people in general. We are actually training our brain, and our spirit to be in tune with the Holy Spirit within us and to think like God thinks! This is a huge component to prayer and "quiet time," or devotions. To sit, be still, and prepare your inner life to be the same as that of Christ. We actually develop neuronal (brain pathways) connections that will remind us how to be compassionate in those moments if we practice this.

It is like a professional athlete training his body for the sport he plays. We are training our spirit to change the word in each and every interaction.

Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever.

1 Timothy 4:8 (The Message)

Namaste'