Upward Training

Week 2

Day 1

Love: Show Compassion

The first few words used to describe love (love is patient, love is kind) reveal that love is the power to be compassionate.  Patience and kindness are two sides of the coin of compassion. 

The English word compassion means to feel with.  It is to empathize, to realize that we share a common flawed humanity and therefore our appropriate response to one another is the double-sided coin of compassion.

Love is patient means that love is long-suffering, long-fused.  That is what the word literally means.  It is macrothumia, long-wrath.  It means that we show compassion as we hang in there with difficult people, that we seek not to highlights other’s flaws but let love cover a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8),  patiently hanging in there with them.  Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:14: And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Note that patience does not mean that we treat everybody exactly the same or that we don’t at times have to exercise “tough love” when somebody is, as Paul said, idle and disruptive.  It simply means we stay with them, keep seeking their higher good, as Paul goes on in verse 15,  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Love is kind indicates that love actively cares for others, seeks to meet their needs.  Kindness treats others as special.  It has been defined as the friendly and helpful spirit, a generous spirit.  Kindness is the other side of the compassion coin.  Patience alone could be twisted into grudgingly and grouchily putting up with somebody, without treating them generously.  But take them as connected, take the whole coin, and wow what a powerful one-two punch of radical love! 

Have you ever shopped on a bargain rack which read “As-is?”  It means you accept the merchandise as it is, no returns due to damage.  The power to be compassionate is the power to accept one another “as-is.”  No returns.  We hang in there with one another, not seeking to return him or her back due to damage.  We treat them as special, with a generous spirit, even though they are broken, actually especially because they are broken.  We may pray and work for healing in the damaged parts, but love acceptance is not conditional.  When we love, we love one another “as-is.” 

Questions for Reflection

What people are hardest for you to accept “as-is?” ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Why do you think this is? 
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In what way is patience a manifestation of love?

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How does impatience reflect a wavering in love?

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What are the challenges to accepting others “as-is?”

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Prayer: Reflecting specifically on this devotional, write out a prayer to God. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________