Acquainted with Grief

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Imagine living your entire adult life yearning to reach out to people who continually rebuffed, ignored, misunderstood, castigated and even condemned you. It would not take long for the average person to pull away and essentially protect what little self-esteem may exist. We often love family and friends until they turn on us or grieve us. Then it too often becomes a desire to self-protect.

We’ve probably all had friends that have been there for years only to either one day, find some offense that pushes them away or something else. It happens and it happens often. We are good at reaching out to friends and family who like, love and respect us, but it is often something else entirely to continue to reach out to people who flagrantly show their disdain for us.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV)

Read over those words again and let them soak in. Here was Jesus, who was despised and rejected by the people whom He came to save. He was a man of sorrows. Sadness marked His days. The grief He experienced was constant and pronounced.

As He went through life, people saw Him as thoroughly inconsequential and even worse. They went out of their way to ignore Him and even avert their gaze when they saw Him. Imagine how that would make the average person feel today.

Further, Jesus was literally despised. Certainly that was the case with the religious leaders of His day, but also by average people who took offense at what He often taught. He was not esteemed by many and His circle of followers was small.

But consider in all this, Jesus marched onward, focusing on completing the Father’s will for Him, continuing to reach out to those who preferred to ignore Him. They didn’t want to hear the truth because they did not want to believe the truth about Him. “Messiah?”! Ha! Wasn’t He the result of fornication? We know His parents; they are very poor and lowest on the social ladder. His father, a mere carpenter. What can this Jesus offer us?”

Yet, in spite of this arrogance, many opened their hearts to Him. Those who did not, continued to receive His care, His concern and His love, despite their rejection of and withdrawal from Him.

But why did Jesus continue to reach out to them? Yes, He was compelled to fulfill the Father’s will, but what was the impetus to doing that? How do you keep reaching out to people who continue to reject you?

As we noted last time, He could do nothing else. So filled with unrestrained compassion was He, that it was the very thing that motivated Him, compelling Him on toward those who stuck out the palm of their hand signifying He should leave them alone. Stop the approach. Stop trying to win them over. Just stop, because they were not interested in what that Man, who came from such a poor family among Jewish people with questionable birth, had to offer. Yet, Jesus could not restrain Himself. He continued to hope, to pray and to reach out to them, without a thought about Himself. Yes, it grieved Him because of their hard hearted attitude, but He did not take that personally.

What I’ve begun to realize is that when Jesus says we are to count the cost in Luke 14:28, He is saying more than I’ve considered. One of the things He is implying is that the cost of following in Jesus’ footsteps involves being willing to allow God to create within us the same unrestrained compassion that existed in Jesus. Think about what that means. It means that often, our efforts to reach people will be stymied by those we are trying to help see the light. It means they might ignore us, laugh at us, attack us verbally (or even physically), castigate us, make fun of us, label us something we are not and more.

As a side note, I’m not talking about someone attempting to break into your home and not defending yourself, your loved ones or your property. I could not stand by and watch someone harm my wife for instance. I’d do what I could to mitigate the situation with as little harm as possible. I’m talking about being attacked verbally or even physically for your testimony. Even then, you have a right to try to stop a physical attack.

When those things happen, the unrestrained compassion that God creates within us motivates us to push onward, taking no thought about our own so-called self-esteem. We will often feel tremendous sorrow and grief because of their rejection of us, but they’re not really rejecting us as much as they are rejecting God. It seems the two go hand in hand. That grief we might feel within will not deter us from continuing to reach out to them because it is unrestrained compassion that compels us. We will continue pushing forward, attempting to create a bridge between them and us, ultimately endeavoring to introduce them to the Father of Lights (James 1:17).

So imagine living life in a way that prompts you to continually reach out to other people, to want, with every fiber of your being to help them understand their need for a Savior in spite of the continual rejection you might experience. Who among us would voluntarily enter into that type of evangelistic situation? Few if any, unless unrestrained compassion so compelled us.

Since I wrote the article Unrestrained Compassion, I’ve begun to realize that, while true compassion is something we cannot create within ourselves, it is something that must exist within us if we are going to be “successful” at living the Christian life from within. This is part of counting the cost of following Jesus. As He begins to create within us this deep sense of unrestrained compassion, we will find ourselves reaching out to others because we need to do so and cannot help but reach out. Essentially, living the Christian life ultimately means wanting to reach out to others and that growing unrestrained compassion within is the very thing that motivates us and even carries us to do what Jesus did.

If this unrestrained compassion does not exist within us, we will do the outward things that make us appear to be Christian. However, without the motivating factor of unrestrained compassion, we will be doing those things in our own strength, not His and that means we will grow tired and frustrated quickly. It is the unrestrained compassion within us that He creates that literally moves us to reach out to other people. We so want to see them saved, to see God work in their lives that the tremendous compassion we feel within is God-given and the very source of what moves and compels us. Anything less is simply Self motivation.

But here is the potential downside of exercising unrestrained compassion toward others. It can easily go unreceived and outright rejected by others. Imagine that. You reach out to people solely because you are compelled to do so and can do nothing less, yet, your reaching out to them is met with disdain, rejection, or even anger. But because you have a foundation built on unrestrained compassion toward the lost in general and others including Christians who are in need from time to time, you continue reaching out to them in the hopes that they will eventually allow you to do for them what Jesus is always doing for us.

There is a book I’m going to recommend called, Agape Leadership: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership from the Life of R. C. Chapman. The fascinating thing about this particular book is the way Chapman loved people and continued reaching out to them even when they fully rejected him and his efforts. He appears to have been so moved by unrestrained compassion that it seemed easy for him not to take their rejection of him personally. Chapman lived from 1803 to 1902 in England. He was known for his compassion, his kindness and the way he worked to bring people together who were at odds with one another.

In one particular case, as he preached on a street corner, he was constantly denigrated and even spit on by a local grocery store owner. Over the course of a few years, that individual would stand and ridicule Chapman as he preached God’s Word to lost souls. The grocery store owner became relentless in his attacks. Yet, Chapman kept preaching, seemingly unaffected.

One day, Chapman had a well-to-do relative visit him. He wanted to find out more about why Chapman did what he did. The day he was leaving he asked Chapman if he could buy groceries for him. Chapman was thankful and insisted that he buy the groceries from the store owner who seemed to hate him. The relative, not knowing the background, agreed to it and went to the store. He purchased a large list of groceries and then asked the store owner to deliver them to Chapman.

The store owner was incredulous and thought the man had made a mistake. The relative insisted that this is the store Chapman asked him to go to. Later that day, the store owner himself delivered the groceries and immediately, in tears, asked for forgiveness for the way he had treated Chapman. He also gave his life to Jesus that very day. Chapman’s “sufferings” related to how he was treated by the store owner resulted in the salvation of that man, who is now with Jesus and Chapman in heaven. Chapman was able to do this because of the unrestrained compassion within him, created by his relationship with Jesus and his increasing “knowing” Jesus.

Jesus had those types of situations and moments, didn’t He? There were times when He called others and they immediately followed. There were many more times when He called others and they flatly rejected Him. He had nothing for them, they believed. How could He help? There were times when those following Him left Him and went their way. How saddened Jesus must have become, not for Himself, but for them.

So, unrestrained compassion is the necessary ingredient in living the Christian life successfully and God must be the One to create it within us so that it literally bubbles up from deep inside us. It is the cause that can bring about the needed and hoped for effect. If we are so filled with compassion for others that we live to see that they receive salvation from the only One who can provide it, it will sometimes find success. On other occasions, it will not find that same success, yet that unrestrained compassion continues to compel us to do what we can to remove the blinders from people’s eyes so that they can come to and fall in love with the Savior.

Counting the cost of following Jesus is an absolute must. It is something we need to learn to live and it can only be successfully lived as our Lord fills us with a growing reservoir of unrestrained compassion, the kind of compassion that desperately wants people to gain salvation. The two-edged sword here is that it will often go unrewarded. We won’t see some come to embrace Jesus and will, instead, watch them continue to reject Him. Are you – am I – willing to deal with the terrible rejection we might experience yet keep going because of the unrestrained compassion He creates within us?

I think of people like Christopher Hutchins, an avowed atheist to his death. He spent years writing books and debating Christians about God’s existence. There is no evidence he came to receive Jesus prior to his death. In fact, he warned ahead of time that on his death bed, he would not budge from his beliefs and if it was said that he did receive Jesus, it would likely be due to the last throes of death that clouded his mind.

Imagine how many times our Lord tried to get Hutchins’ attention, to help him understand that he needed what only Jesus offers? Imagine how many Christians spoke with and even debated Hutchins over God, salvation and the need to repent. Yet, in spite of these things, Hutchins remained unconvinced and resolute in his belief there was no God. When he died on the 15th of December, 2011, he was immediately faced with the reality that the God he had chosen to believe did not exist, did exist, but it was too late for him to repent at that point. Does my heart ache for those people?

It is so easy to get sucked up into politics in today’s world, isn’t it? Too often, Christians spend much time arguing over this political position or that one. Unfortunately, it often leads to acrimony and severed relationships between people. Once that happens, a door is solidly closed. Satan works overtime to keep us preoccupied on things that ultimately do not matter.

What is the purpose of the Christian life if not to reach out to people to show them their need for Jesus? In order to do that consistently, we must have a base solidly built on unrestrained compassion, which consistently compels us to reach out in spite of the reactions we might receive.

That means we continue to pray for people we do not like or feel no kinship with; politicians for example. Atheists or far-left people who believe transgenderism is reality. Do we throw up our hands because we feel that it is too late for them? As long as they are breathing, it’s not too late. Do we continue to reach out to our Lord in prayer for these people and even speak with them as we get opportunity? If we are rejected, we will likely feel a sense of unrequited love; a love that is not returned or even appreciated. Yet, we shoulder on because of the unrestrained compassion within us that God is building.

This was often Jesus’ life. His love was not always returned. His love for people, borne of unrestrained compassion, was rejected out of hand and even vilified by many time and time again. Yet, He continued reaching out to them because He could do no less. He hoped for a softened response, a breaking down of barriers. Imagine how much He must have prayed for people.

Is unrestrained compassion why He would get up from communication with the Father while He was off by Himself, and immediately begin to meet the needs of those around Him who literally had no shepherd? He took no thought for Himself. He was constantly reaching out to people around Him.

When we are called to lose ourselves in Jesus, it ultimately means we will partner with Him in becoming acquainted with grief and sorrow, but not for ourselves. We will “bleed” for those who reject the truth and we will not be put off by their anger. That’s a hard pill to swallow because of the fact that my level of unrestrained compassion is not great, though I can see that God is creating it within me. I’d love to be “baptized” in unrestrained compassion, but that is up to God. He may choose to simply grow it slowly but surely.

It is the responsibility of each and every Christian to realize just exactly how God wants us to live. With the proper foundational base – unrestrained compassion – we will reach out to people because of their need for Jesus and we will give no thought to how their rejection might affect us. In fact, the more unrestrained compassion we have within us, the greater our desire to see people saved and the less we will worry about how any form of rejection affects us.

To God be the glory and may He build within us a foundation of unrestrained compassion so deep that whatever people say or attempt to do to us will simply not matter. The greatest wish of our lives will be to reach out to those in need.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective