(unmarked journal entry)

when you’re down & someone comes to encourage you, sometimes it feels like even though you know they care, they don’t really know how you feel or if their sympathy runs any deeper than their skin. fortunately, we never need to worry about that with God. we don’t need to wonder if He really cares.

we know God cares for us, and we know His care is based in love. He does not care out of obligation or a sense of duty. He cares because He is the Creator-King and Father of us all.

His concern for us is deep, wide, long & high. His love for us is founded in the depths of His heart & it will not move.

His blessings are a joy to Him, He loves to provide for His children! Thanks be to our loving, faithful, life-giving God!

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(sidebar)

as Christians, we should strive to share the compassion that God showed us in the lives of the people we encounter day-to-day. if we offer platitudes instead of genuine compassion, it’s pretty obvious. a quick “i’m sorry for your loss” and moving on shows that your level of concern was actually based in the fact that you look like you’re concerned. you may feel a twinge of sympathy for them and their situation, but in just speaking a quick word, you have shown the depth of your concern. and the wounded person can easily say that you don’t really care about them.

so then, we must do as Jesus did, stepping aside from our area of comfort and security, and taking time to live in their world with them. spend the time to help them come to grips with the state that they’re in, offer some solutions and comfort to them, knowing that time spent is a great indicator of just how much you care.

there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus’ compassion was deep and sincere, and since He is our rabbi, we must follow His example in developing the depth of compassion that He has shown us.

so, whether we are speaking to someone who has experienced a death, a loss of a job, a divorce or even just a really cruddy week, we need to give them the time and actual concern they should receive, and that we would want in our own lives from someone else.