Compassion For The Broken
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 8:00AM MAD21 By MAD21
We are all broken. Every single one of us. If we weren't, there'd have been no reason for Jesus to be born and die for us.
What does it mean to be broken? Well, do you suffer from: depression; excessive eating or spending; working too much; ignoring the needs of others; physical ailments; bad attitude; alcoholic/addict; the list could go on forever. The list also includes many things that would be considered politically incorrect to discuss in our society, but are very much on God's list of sins. We are all dealing with something. It's part of life.
But the big question is this: Is one sin worse than another? I know it's hard to not want to make one person's choice of sins worse than another, and I admit, it's hard for me, too. Very. My point here is not to debate whether murder is worse than gambling (I certainly know what my human mind would say). That is for God to determine, not me. What I want to talk about is compassion.
It is not our place to judge. Ok. Let me rephrase that... I suppose it could be argued that we are judging someone when we see them doing something we know is a sin. We have judged it to be a sin. However, what we are not to do is condemn them. The phrase comes to mind: "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Easy to say, very difficult to put into practice. It's easy when someone has come to us to discuss a life-choice they have made, to say that you still care about them, even if you don't agree with their decision. We can still love them, but at what point are we accepting them... or encouraging them to continue in their sin. That is one GIGANTIC gray area. One I haven't even worked through myself.
What I do know is that Jesus called on us to have compassion for the broken, the persecuted, the dying. Because let's face it, that describes each and every one of us. It doesn't mean we invite sin into our home, giving it a place to grow, but we need to treat people the way Jesus would have treated them (even if they are in prison). Times have changed since he was physically here. Sins that were big enough to be stoned to death in his time, are not such a big deal anymore, at least in our society. The people wanted to stone the woman who was caught in the act of committing adultery before Jesus stepped in. You don't see people being stoned for that anymore. Unfortunately, too many people think it's really no big deal at all.
Each generation has it's own recipe of brokenness. We have to remember that it is ALL sin. Just because society within a certain time period deems one particular sin worse than another, does not mean that it will be judged the same in God's eye. Each of us is tainted by our generation to believe that some sins should be ok, while others are not. But we have to be careful. Deception is everywhere, and it's friend justification isn't far behind.
How do we love others that are broken? Look for the cracks. There is a song sung by Leonard Cohen called, Anthem. I'm not really a big fan of this style of music. But the words in this song are amazing. (Thanks Candy Steele for Tweeting it last week!). He sings, "There is a crack, a crack in everything...That's how the light gets in." As you listen to this song, I want you to think about something. Who is in the light?
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
Compassion, Love, Service in Making A Difference
Reader Comments (3)
It is tough sometimes. Are we acting as Jesus would when we reject a person? Absolutely not! But Jesus was able to say gently "Go forth and sin no more...." It just wouldn't come out the same from us at all, would it?
Great reminder Ginny!
This is something we have to wrestle through if we are truly being conformed to the image of Jesus. We can't just wrestle with it once, but as often as possible, even every day. Compassion has to win out if brokenness is going to give way to restoration.
Thanks Ginny- a great post.