Leading with Compassion

II Corinthians 1: 3,4 ” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

My life after 40 years had become a mess which is an understatement at best due to poor, foolish, and outright sinful choices.

But by the grace of God long before I surrendered to Christ, long before I admitted my sin, long before I was even alive, Jesus Christ in his mercy, pursued me. He had compassion on me and gently led me out of the darkness and into the light of grace.

Yet today I will shout of the grace of God from the rooftops and post it daily on my face book status,  but I often find it difficult and sometimes painful to look at someone’s self-inflicted pain and show compassion and mercy without judgment.

Back to Jesus, who at the cross looked past my sin and met me at my deepest need. His compassion and mercy penetrated to my heart and allowed me for the first time to understand grace. It was through God pursuing me through the years that I can look back and name and claim his mercy at specific times in my life. It was so important to see my sin, but even more important to acknowledge his grace in spite of my sin.

In turn I need I need to look past the sinner. I’m not saying look past the sin. We need to call sin for what it is, but look further into the deeper need in someone’s heart.

Where would the women caught in adultery be if Jesus justly allowed the men to stone her to death?

Showing mercy gives comfort, and being able to genuinely give comfort builds a trust, and gives you access into someone’s heart. Mercy is the light of our savior. And any leader looking for a heart change in another will only succeed by the words in the book of Micah 6:8 ” Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” – Dan Gavin is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is now serving in our internship program

Daily Bible Reading: Job 1-2; 1 Corinthians 1

Quote of the day: We cannot speak of the hidden manna unless we have the taste of it in our mouth. We cannot speak of the living water unless it be springing up within us. Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42