A sermon preached
by Fortune Emerence Chinemerem Nwaiwu on 11/02/2018
"Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him for He
knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust"-- Psalm 103:13-14 KJV.
God as a father of all
that dwell on Earth shows compassion to his children because He knows they are
dust. There could be a time God would vent His fury on man's wickedness, but
when He remembers that we are made of dust, He relents because he knows how
weak any person made of dust is, capable of having many trials and sorrows.
Now, as Christians,
never forget to continue showing compassion to anyone, putting yourselves in their
shoes---their situations, getting to know what they are passing through and the
factors that are causing them to react in the manner they do. In this sermon,
we shall consider two prime questions that will aid us to consider someone's
else problems as paramount as ours to solve.
1. What will you do when you see people who are
confused and helpless? Put
yourself into their situation, and no one would need to beg you before you
would volunteer to help them. Why people don't show compassion on others is
because they don't put themselves in other people's shoes – their suffering,
pains, and problems. The moment we take people's pains as ours is when we make
conscious efforts to help them, because we feel their pains in our bones.
Matthew 9:36
indicates that when Jesus saw a crowd of sick people who were confused and
helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, He had compassion on them; His
compassion motivated Him to heal them of their sickness.
Note: See yourself as a helpless person for Christ's
compassion to work in you. You need help from God; would you humble yourself
and look to Christ for a miracle over your unspeakable situations right now?
Nabal could not show
compassion on David and his men when they were hungry because, as a wealthy man
who lacked nothing, Nabal did not put himself in the shoes of the helpless
David and his famished men. Perhaps Nabal had never experienced hardship in his
life. If God would bring our political and religious leaders from the apex of
their affluence down to poverty for them to know what the poor are passing
through and mercifully bring them up again, they would learn to help people in
need, especially the poor around them.
Note:
David and his men had been helping Nabal, protecting his flocks in the
wilderness, and nothing was stolen, but he had repaid him evil for good. What
about you? Perhaps, you have served people honestly, but when you need help
from them, they seem not to help you, because they never put themselves in your
shoes.
Illustration: God has given me the gift of writing. I have written
a lot of books, unedited and unpublished. I have searched for editors and
explained my conditions to them as they wanted me to pay some money which I
could not afford. Until one day, I contacted Douglas Cooper, Ph.D., an
editor and former professor at Harvard University, in the US. I pleaded with
him to help me edit my manuscript, offering him $80 even when I knew it would take
me many months to earn the money. But when he saw how miserable and helpless I
was, he put himself in my shoes, and then showed compassion on me, and then
edited my work without charging me any farthing. I owe him many thanks.
Now, if God has
delivered you, you owe Him thanks and gratitude. This is what the ten lepers Christ
healed failed to realise, except for one fellow who came back to thank Him.
2. The evil I plan
to do to people, what if they do it to me, how will I feel? You might make plans to steal, to rape people's
daughters, to spread false rumours to tarnish their image; what if someone else
were to do to you what you plan for others? How will you feel if others damage your
good reputation? There is a golden rule for this attitude found in Matthew 7:12--- "Do to others
whatever you would like them to do to you."
Brethren, let us see all
of us as one, and one man's trouble should be ours with love. By acting in
love, and oneness, our problems will be lesser.
May God smile on you and show you his favour now and forever.
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You can contact the Man of God via
fortune.nwaiwu.fn@gmail.com
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