"A turtle!"
"What??"
"A turtle! Oh no! Poor turtle! It's in the road!"
In the midst of traffic we couldn't stop to save him. I don't know what happened to him but I hope and pray that someone else had convenient compassion on him.
As we passed the poor little turtle in the road, my companion said, "Sometimes we're like little turtles in the road: surrounded by all these cars whizzing by, scared, don't know what's going on. Ah!"
A realization sparked in my mind: we ARE like little turtles in the road! We have no idea what we're doing, We often are scared to act because we see all of the evil and darkness in the world. Most things that we come up against are much much bigger than we are. We can't win on our own. We need someone or something else to save us from being run over. (Literally and figuratively.)
We need Someone to have "convenient compassion" on us.
Unfortunately, compassion and true empathy are rarely, if ever, convenient. In fact, 99.9% of the time, compassion and empathy will be extremely INconvenient.
Christ showed compassion on the man with palsy whose friends brought him before Christ by making a hole in the roof and putting their friend's bed through said hole. He also showed compassion on Jairus and his daughter.
In Mark 5, we read that, "...there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw [Christ], he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come, and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live."
Immediately Christ had compassion on Jairus' suffering and grief and followed him. While on the way to the home of Jairus, a woman who had suffered an issue of blood for 12 years knew that if she could but touch Christ's clothes, she would be made whole. As Christ passed her, she reached out "and touched his garment...and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Christ immediately stopped and asked who touched him.
Now, we have to remember that Christ was already on his way to help another friend and brother in need. Yet he stopped, anyway.
He looked around and waited for the woman to come forth. He knew who had touched his clothing. He stopped in order for this woman to come forth that everyone might see the miracle which had just occurred.
She came forward and told Christ and the multitude what had happened to her and Christ's words to her are some of my favorite in the entire New Testament: "Daughter, they faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague."
While He was speaking, a man came from the home of Jairus and told them that his daughter was dead. "Don't bother Christ anymore" was, in essence, what they tell Jairus.
Can you imagine the pain and grief that must have overcome Jairus? Knowing that he has come to the Lord in desperation and that He is now, apparently, unable to do anything.
Again Christ calmed wounded hearts and souls, this time with the simple words, "Be not afraid, only believe." He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead.
In a short span of time, simply because he was willing to stop traffic and help two little "turtles in the road," lives were changed. In fact, lives were GIVEN because Christ was willing to stop and help.
So, compassion may not be convenient. In fact, sometimes it may seem to be a great inconvenience to be compassionate - to stop and help a friend who is struggling and needs someone to talk to, to share your testimony of the reality of God's love with someone who feels alone, to bring someone cookies when they are recovering from surgery. These things are so small yet they're so important!!
How many times has Christ played a part in your own healing process? He has had compassion on you.
So help a little turtle out.
In the midst of traffic we couldn't stop to save him. I don't know what happened to him but I hope and pray that someone else had convenient compassion on him.
As we passed the poor little turtle in the road, my companion said, "Sometimes we're like little turtles in the road: surrounded by all these cars whizzing by, scared, don't know what's going on. Ah!"
We need Someone to have "convenient compassion" on us.
Unfortunately, compassion and true empathy are rarely, if ever, convenient. In fact, 99.9% of the time, compassion and empathy will be extremely INconvenient.
Christ showed compassion on the man with palsy whose friends brought him before Christ by making a hole in the roof and putting their friend's bed through said hole. He also showed compassion on Jairus and his daughter.
In Mark 5, we read that, "...there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw [Christ], he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come, and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live."
Immediately Christ had compassion on Jairus' suffering and grief and followed him. While on the way to the home of Jairus, a woman who had suffered an issue of blood for 12 years knew that if she could but touch Christ's clothes, she would be made whole. As Christ passed her, she reached out "and touched his garment...and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Christ immediately stopped and asked who touched him.
Now, we have to remember that Christ was already on his way to help another friend and brother in need. Yet he stopped, anyway.
He looked around and waited for the woman to come forth. He knew who had touched his clothing. He stopped in order for this woman to come forth that everyone might see the miracle which had just occurred.
She came forward and told Christ and the multitude what had happened to her and Christ's words to her are some of my favorite in the entire New Testament: "Daughter, they faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague."
While He was speaking, a man came from the home of Jairus and told them that his daughter was dead. "Don't bother Christ anymore" was, in essence, what they tell Jairus.
Can you imagine the pain and grief that must have overcome Jairus? Knowing that he has come to the Lord in desperation and that He is now, apparently, unable to do anything.
Again Christ calmed wounded hearts and souls, this time with the simple words, "Be not afraid, only believe." He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead.
In a short span of time, simply because he was willing to stop traffic and help two little "turtles in the road," lives were changed. In fact, lives were GIVEN because Christ was willing to stop and help.
So, compassion may not be convenient. In fact, sometimes it may seem to be a great inconvenience to be compassionate - to stop and help a friend who is struggling and needs someone to talk to, to share your testimony of the reality of God's love with someone who feels alone, to bring someone cookies when they are recovering from surgery. These things are so small yet they're so important!!
How many times has Christ played a part in your own healing process? He has had compassion on you.
So help a little turtle out.
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