Abundant Life Christian Fellowship

Last Sunday I passed along a challenge that through the month of December to take a journey with myself, and Luke, through the life of our Lord and Savior. During this time of the church calendar, we usually focus on Christ’s birth. However, this year, let us also focus on why His birth is so significant. There are twenty-four chapters in the Gospel of Luke. The challenge is each day between December 1 and December 24 read one chapter from the Gospel of Luke. By the time we get to Christmas Eve, we will have a better understanding of Jesus and his ministry. And maybe by December 24, we will wholeheartedly praise God with the angels and declare, “Glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men! (Luke 2:14) 

Yesterday was Luke Chapter 7.In the seventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel we read about as Jesus came to the city of Nain, a large procession of mourners was carrying the body of a mother’s only son.Seeing her grief, it says that Jesus had compassion on her (Luke 7:13). He touched the coffin and said, “Arise,” and the young man sat up and began to speak. The word that is used for “compassion” means having pity or feeling sympathy.

But there is a deeper meaning that refers to as the seat of emotions. Jesus felt the pain of that mother’s loss and met her the point of her deepest need. Every day God places people in our lives that are dealing with pain from different causes. Maybe a friend or neighbor has a serious need, or they’ve had someone close to them die, or they are dealing with an illness that has stricken. What I see is that God is calling us to stop being so busy with our own lives and respond to the needs of others with this sort of compassion, or what some would call empathy. As we approach the celebration of Christmas, I wonder who can we offer the compassion of Jesus to? Let’s slow down and pay attention to those the Lord may be putting in our path.

 Pastor Dave