Today's Devotional

November 3,  2005

 

Subject:  Hard Is Easy, Compassion Is Hard

Ephesians 4:32 - "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

As a new school teacher, it seems like every teacher I talk to at the school wants to tell me a story about how tough they are on these "bad" kids.  It's almost as if I can start the same song playing every time I start a conversation with one of these toughies.  When we started taking some of the standardized tests this week, I was assigned to monitor a class of 9th graders.  The advice I got from one teacher  was to "act like you're crazy and that will keep them under control."  

When I was in the Marine Corps, I saw a lot of this also.  Boot Camp and Officer's Candidate School are environments with a necessary hardness and toughness to the instructors.  It has purpose in building the character qualities of the recruits during training.  However, even those who run those schools know that you can't do that for an extended period of time without balancing it with a sense of concern for the trainees.  

Because we are born with a sinful nature, many of us can easily be evil and hateful to others.  It doesn't take much effort to yell at someone or tell them how little you care about them.  It's "natural."  Yes it's born into the natural man.  That's why believers choose instead to walk in the spiritual.  When we do that, we have a totally different attitude about our fellow man and even our "bad" kids or students.  

Today, for you it might be a relative, a neighbor, a coworker or anyone you simply love to hate.  Check your heart and see why you can't be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving as you should be.  That's how Christ is with us.  Through Him we can be that way with others also because He enables that.  Remember, it's easy to be hard, but it's hard to be compassionate.  Choose compassion. 

Carlen