There were no signs indicating the location of the church out front and it wasn't the easiest place to find. When I walked in, there was a table with coffee and doughnuts, but I was immediately drawn to a glass wall in the middle of the room with photos of children and places from around the world. There was a table beside with bracelets, books of photos and pamphlets telling about a group of people who were traveling the world ministering and taking pictures that could tell the story of the people in this world that need compassion.
When the music began, people started to take their seats and while some conversations lingered during the first song, others began singing and worshipping God. By the next song, everyone had joined in and I found tears filling my eyes. The reason had nothing to do with the building or even the music, though. Tears filled my eyes because for the past several months I have been desperate to really feel the presence of Jesus like I know is possible. And I haven't been able to. But this morning, somehow I felt the his presence. And it overwhelmed me. And I loved it.
When the pastor started speaking, I felt my heart open and ready to be filled with the words of God. And that is exactly what happened. I don't even know the pastor's name, but it doesn't matter. The voice I was really hearing was God's. I think it is so amazing when God uses his children as vessels to speak to others. I wasn't entertained by his message, rather I was filled and challenged by it. I don't remember any great stories. He didn't make me laugh once. But for the first time in a long time, I could sit here and tell you exactly what the whole sermon was about.
He spoke from Matthew 14:13-21--When Jesus was sad after John the Baptist was beheaded, he went off to spend time alone with his grief and with his Father. But as he sought solitude, the crowd followed him and he was moved with compassion for them and healed the sick. Then, when the disciples came and told Jesus to send them away to get food, Jesus told the disciples he had another plan. He wanted them to feed the multitude. The disciples were then backed into a corner and they realized this is something they were not capable of, so they turned to Jesus and Jesus turned their 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into enough to feed the 5,000 men plus women and children.
In this passage, Jesus had compassion at a time when he was grieving. When he needed time to be alone, rather than be annoyed he was moved with a compassion that in the Greek is called Splagchnizomai. This is the kind of compassion that wells up within you and moves you to do something. We need that kind of compassion. We need to quit stopping at "awareness." We watch videos, join Facebook groups and wear bracelets but what are we doing to change things. It doesn't matter if we don't feel like we have the ability. We need to do it anyway.
Later, the disciples came to Jesus with a plan: Send the people away to get food. How many times to we come to God with our own plans. The disciples had the right intentions. They knew the people needed to eat, but rather than ask Jesus what he wanted to do they had their own idea. But Jesus had another plan and his plan required them to seek him because it was something they could not do on their own. They could easily send the people away. That required no faith. But Jesus told them to feed over 5,000 people. That required God. If we are seeking God's plan, he will usually require something of us that forces us to turn to him.
To tie this all together, true compassion often forces us to seek the Lord's plan and provision. God put us in places where problems are so big that we have to turn to him.
After the Lord spoke to me through this message, we sang a song that filled my heart with joy and love for my Savior. I had never heard it before, but the words spilled out of my heart and I sang them naturaly despite this fact. It was called "Dove's Eyes" This is that song:
Let me hear Your voice
For Your voice is sweet
Let me see Your eyes
For your face is lovely
I love your face
I love your kisses
I love your embrace
I love your presence
I am my Beloved's
And You are mine
Your desire is for me
Nothing can change your mind.
