Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 2:6
My family had a great weekend watching my son and his baseball team play baseball. They played some good ball and came up just short of winning first place. I love watching those boys work together towards one goal of winning. An away tournament means sleeping in a hotel room and this particular weekend it meant sleeping in a hotel room with a newborn baby. As the baby was up for a very long time God showed me something very important.
The baby was up for a good portion of the night and no one was willing to help him except for me. As I sat there feeding him at 1:30 am I couldn't help but recognize how quick my sleeping family was to correct this fussy baby. In the middle of a dead sleep the kids were willing to yell 'shut up' as their sleep was being interrupted. They all noticed what was outwardly wrong with this baby, he was crying loudly when he and the rest of the world should have been sleeping, but no one was willing to get out of bed to see what was really wrong with him. No one wanted to leave their comfortable position to see that he was rooting, just searching for something to eat. They didn't feel like looking at him only to find him drawing his little legs as though his tummy hurt and of course no one was going to check to see if a simple diaper change would have calmed him down. All they knew was what they could hear, he was crying and it was annoying them. They had no idea what was the cause nor did they show any concern for finding out. They clearly wanted the crying to stop but no one was willing to take the time to help him stop.
And now enter God...........He brought to my mind all the times that I complain about someone's attitude or someone's "crying" and then revealed to me the many times I never took the time to find out what was causing it. I clearly saw the annoying behavior someone presented but I wasn't willing to get out of my comfort zone to see what was truly behind it. How many times do we all do this? We get angry because someone is annoying us but we have no intention of showing compassion and trying to help them get through whatever is bothering them? Many times the outward appearance is only a cry for help and we too often ignore the fact that there is probably something deeper going on. Something that we could help them with and walk them through. When I think of Jesus I think of a man who walked people through their hurt. He could see past the outward appearance into the heart and to the pain that was fueling their action and He had compassion. He didn't just tell them to "suck it up", "shut up", or "get over it". He walked with them and talked with them and He was interested in how he could ease their pain. It is always easy to see what's on the outside, the things that bother or annoy us but it takes relationship, love and deep concern to devote our time and energy finding out what is hidden. It takes a real man like Jesus to walk someone out of a pit of hurt and despair. Jesus lives in us.......if it is His desire to help those who are hurting then let us stop denying Jesus' power in our lives and start showing concern for the people around us.
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