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Heaven Travel Blue Passport

Being Known

By / 2 minutes of reading / , , ,

Now, I want to address Christians, much like the Christians in the church in Corinth, that think of themselves as better than others. This statement may seem harsh; that is not my intent. Please hang with me on this.

“20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish…29 no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:20,29 NLT

I hope we all seek to be known by Jesus Christ, our Lord, as trustworthy servants dedicated to bringing glory to God. (2 Corinthians 4:15) Education and knowledge are vitally important. Paul, the Apostle, encouraged his “son” Timothy to study so that he could correctly demonstrate a thorough understanding of the doctrine of Christ within the Scriptures. We all should continually strive to increase our knowledge, but the end purpose of knowledge is not for our benefit. Instead, it is to bring others to a greater understanding of the glory of God. Jesus leaves us no room to point some of God’s glory upon ourselves.

A person who loves God deeply and walks humbly in righteousness is more valuable to God than anyone that thinks they have all the answers. And that humble person is one whom God uses. Paul’s 2nd letter to the church at Corinth gives them, and us, a clear reminder: “[Presently] we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV)

God knows us “fully,” and this won’t change when we enter heaven. God won’t have a sudden epiphany about anyone! However, we will find that some of the things we were adamant about in this life, we misunderstood or completely missed the boat. Therefore, let’s study while recognizing we cannot be experts in anything concerning God. And let’s not learn for our ego but let our hearts burn with a hunger to know God more intimately and encourage everyone while calling upon God’s grace and mercy while drawing near to Him so that He will draw near to us.

Image by Nahchon Guyton from Pixabay

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Categorized Compassion

By / 3 minutes of reading / , ,

When a person lives a worldly life, that person is subject to worldly compassion. Worldly compassion is not an act of love but a tool to be used. The well-known passage of Scripture called “the parable of the lost son” (Luke 15:11-32) teaches us many lessons, one of which is the damage from categorized compassion.

But no one gave him anything.

Luke 15:16

The son took his father’s inheritance while he was still alive and spent all of his money partying. Ending up destitute and at the very bottom of society, he had no money and, due to prejudice, he was in a category unworthy of compassion – he was a Jew outside of Israel or Judea (see v.13).

Intentionality

Worldly compassion provides benevolence to people in socially approved categories, and it is withheld from people who find themselves in classes that society has deemed not deserving compassion. Our world is the same as that of the prodigal son. This is not true for the body of Christ.

To effectively give Christian compassion, we must do so with intentionality. Intentionality means our thoughts, desires, and hopes compel us to seek out opportunities to express Jesus’ love to any person in need.

Great Acts of Compassion

A historian of the early church, Eusebius, recorded in “The Church History” that during the plague,

All day long some of them [the Christians] tended to the dying and to their burial, countless numbers with no one to care for them. Others gathered together from all parts of the city a multitude of those withered from famine and distributed bread to them all.

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As a means of caring for those who were ill, St. Basil of Caesarea founded the first hospital (c. 369). Christian hospitals grew apace, spreading throughout both the East and the West. By the mid-1500s, there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries alone that cared for the sick.

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Compassion Through Education

Of course, God has called countless Christians to demonstrate compassion through education. In America, Harvard and Yale were founded by Puritans, Princeton was founded by Presbyterians, and Brown University was founded by Baptists. Oxford University, Cambridge University (founded in 1209 AD), University of Edinburgh, and Saint Andrews were all founded by and for Christianity in the UK. Of course, we can’t forget the hundreds of universities founded worldwide by the Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches, such as the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic University of Lyon, the University of Vienna (founded in 1365), and Saint Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary.

The Most Prolific Compassion

Still, the most extraordinary undocumented Christian compassion comes from you and all faithful Christians. Our heart is not splintered; we do not practice socially categorized compassion. Because “For God so loved the world,” we must too.

Photo by Fausto Hernández on Pexels.com

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