30Jan17

Matthew 9:36
"Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd."

Sometimes I am not the most sympathetic person. There have been instances where I have looked a Soldier in the eye and said, "Just be a man!" in response to their hurt and frustration. I am so unlike Jesus still. Now, I don't think that Jesus put up with people's shenanigans but, what he did do was connect with them regardless of what they were going through and then reached out with love. Too often I think we take a look at this life and see people who are hurting or lost and our first thought is not about them at all. Our first thought is about what we are normally thinking about... ourselves. We see ourselves as the center of the life we are living instead of side characters in a grander scheme. We value our priorities over others and don't take the time to truly sympathize. We even will use other people's real life pain for our own benefit through all kinds of trickery and manipulation. But, instead, God sent this man down to earth to actually feel our pain, experience our grief, and shed tears, just to be the shepherd we all so desperately need. When you see someone's pain how do you react? What is your first thought? How can you reach out to the distressed and dispirited in your life today?