Simple human things

If you have a copy of 'My Utmost For His Highest' by Oswald Chambers, I encourage you to read the entry for Feb 21 entitled, 'Have you ever been carried away for Him?' If you don't have a copy, check it out online at http://www.myutmost.org/ and go to that date. Here are a couple of highlights: 'Have I ever been carried away to do something for God not because it was my duty, nor because it was useful, nor because there was anything in it at all beyond the fact that I love Him?...Not Divine, colossal things which could be recorded as marvelous, but ordinary, simple human things which will give evidence to God that I am abandoned to Him?...Abandon to God is of more value than personal holiness. ...When we are abandoned to God, He works through us all the time.'

What are those 'simple human things' that Chambers talks about that serve as tokens of love to God? One form they can take is compassion and comfort for others in need (Matthew 25:40). However, we often undercut our very attempts at compassionate service because we have a greater desire to be in the spotlight than to abandon ourselves to the work God will do through us, and the sentiment interpreted by the world is, "Here, let me help you, not because I care, but because I'm better than you are and it's what I'm supposed to do." Compassion gets lost in the wake of our drive to appear compassionate. I think if we will slow down for a second and truly evaluate the compassion we have been shown by God, the authenticity of our outreach will never again be in doubt.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 that God is the 'Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.' I don't think any of us have to think very hard in order to bring to mind someone who is struggling through troubles. Perhaps you don't have to think very long because it is you who are feeling weighted down by troubles. If that's the case, I pray you will receive this time as an opportunity (albeit a hard one) to understand just how deeply God cares for you. Grasp the boundless extremes of God's love and allow His comfort to overwhelm you even in this darkness. In order for us to know the expanse of His faithfulness, we have to journey to places we can't believe (yet!) that God can reach. God comforts us in all our troubles.

However if that's not the case right now, we will eventually find ourselves in that place where we can compassionately serve our neighbor, and it is there that we have to be very careful to acknowledge what (more accurately Who) is the source of our comfort. Somebody in this world is experiencing trouble right now, and the source of their comfort is God. But the delivery of that comfort is you and me. Don't mix those roles up! Believe me, I can do remarkably little to comfort a brother or sister in trouble when I draw from my own compassion stores. But when I allow the comfort God has bathed me with to overflow into another person's life, true compassion is both given and received. Most importantly, all parties involved recognize that God is the Father of ALL compassion, and glory is given to him alone.

Now, notice two small words in the passage from 2 Corinthians above: all and any. God comforts us in all our troubles. We have never pulled ourselves out of any holes of despair. We have never encouraged ourselves to endure through the midnight of heartache because we would bring the dawn of healing. We have never been in any trouble that God was not there actively applying comfort and healing to our wounded hearts. Not once. Not ever. Big. Small. In ALL our troubles, God has been and will continue to be our comfort.

Also, we have been given the capacity to comfort our neighbor through any trouble they are facing. How many times have we passed over a stranger in trouble (or worse a friend) rationalizing, "I can't do anything to help them."? That's absolutely right! But we shy away because we fail to recognize the true source of all compassion and comfort. It's not us, it is God. This is where we have to get it out of our heads that we are anything but vessels of God's compassion and comfort. We must get to that place of abandon that Chambers talks about, and find God working through us. Only He can comfort ANY trouble, and he will do so through you and through me.

Shine the spotlight on me, and you'll find a wounded, weak, patched up pot that isn't worth a second look. But look inside me and find the inestimable treasure that is God's mercy when He sought me, found me, and healed my wounds. Discover the brilliant Glory of Love that covers over every sin I ever perpetrated against Him and those around me. Let me show you the marvelous purpose and destiny that he has graciously placed within me. And then let me tell you that neither He nor His love ever changes. The same comfort that I've been given is for you, too. And all that treasure, all that goodness inside, all that love is for you as well!

So those 'simple human things' that we do out of abandon to God are passing along all the comfort that we have received from God to any other who finds themselves in trouble, and simply, honestly, and humbly revealing the glorious treasure of Who God is and what He has done in our hearts.

God, I now realize that it has always been You comforting and caring for me when my world, my life, and my heart were broken. You poured out love beyond measure and life without end into my heart, and now You allow those radiant riches to shine through and overflow out of my cracks into the hurts and wounds of my neighbors in this world. I pray that today I would offer back to you some simple human thing that expresses how carried away I am by Your Love! In the Name of Jesus, my Comfort in all troubles, Amen.