September 29, 2020—Call to Prayer

The African Forum on Religion and Government (AFReG) calls on all Christians to increase our prayers as a faith community dialoguing on “African Identity, Dignity and Justice in the 21st Century.” This Tuesday, September 29, 2020, our theme is “Compassion”

Sympathy, empathy, care and considerations are all synonyms of the word compassion. The attitude behind compassion is loving kindness—which is God’s nature. We are never more like God than when we are moved with compassion for situations and for people in painful or oppressive situations. This compassion moves to action so that one claiming to have compassion is moved to do something to relieve the situation where they can.

The Bible records many instances where Jesus was moved by compassion. He always intervened. In Luke 7:13, 14, He intervenes by raising the widow’s son. In John 2:1-12 He changed water into wine at a wedding at Cana of Galilee. In Luke 8:1-3 we see that He had cured Mary Magdalene, among other women, of evil spirits and diseases and Luke 8: 43-48, He healed the women with the issue of blood. He rescued the woman who was caught in adultery from being stoned to death in John 8:1-11. Matthew 15:32 records the feeding of the crowd who had been with him a long while.

In one situation when the disciples had been sent on by Jesus to buy food from a village in Samaria, they left Him by the well of Jacob where He had an interesting discourse with a Samaritan woman. As the conversation recorded for us in John 4:4-42 informs us, this woman had reason to be ostracized by society. She had had five husbands and was currently living with a man who was not her husband. No wonder she chose the hot midday to come and draw water from the community well so as not to have to endure judgement and scorn of fellow village women. Jesus chose to reveal truth about herself which opened her eyes to the Savior He was. This interaction resulted in her shamelessly becoming a witness for Jesus and Samaria was never the same again! Revival broke out as people flocked to see this man who “told her everything she ever did” and believed in Him.  Jesus’ compassion, despite his tiredness, moved Him to intervene in a situation He could easily have ignored and had nothing to do. After all, the culture of the day looked down upon association with Samaritans and with women, especially of this kind. Compassion will move us to act regardless of the odds and risks against taking the appropriate God-prompted action.

God’s working in us will move us with compassion to see what we should say and do. Bob Pierce was a Baptist minister and relief worker (1914-1978) who is famous for having written this quote in his Bible—“Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God”. Disregard for human identity, dignity and justice breaks God’s heart (Jeremiah 9:24). May our hearts be so moved with compassion similarly to where we will be compelled to take the God-driven actions we must in situations all around us.

Prayer

Forgive us where we have turned a blind eye to situations where people suffered under our watch or where we didn’t do all we could to alleviate pain and oppression.

Lord, open our eyes to see the situations all around us that need our intervention. Move our hearts with compassion and courage to arise with the strength You make available so that we may represent You well.

Search

Recent Posts

AFReG Devotions—23 March 2023

The Ever-Present God What does it mean to you that God is ever-present? While studying God’s attributes, theologians have classified three “omni” characteristics that God is: Omnipotent (all-powerful), Omniscient (all-knowing), and Omnipresent (ever-present). God is present everywhere because, as we have seen, His power and knowledge are everywhere. If every event takes place by God’s

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—7 March 2023

The Justice and Mercy of God “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.” Psalm 57:1 (NKJV) This year we are spending time as an AFReG community delving a little

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—24 February 2023

The All-Powerful God Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Exodus 15:11 There is a God who created the galaxies. The most straightforward estimate using today’s best technology would state that there are 170 billion galaxies in our universe, but some

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—7 February 2023

February 7, 2023 THE ALL-KNOWING GOD Some may experience the all-knowing God as threatening. This is especially so in a world where many would like to act with impunity, getting away with evil or selfish actions. Some may even hide under the appearance of being Christians, and so long as other human beings are not

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—24 January 2023

WHO IS GOD? Our concept of God shapes everything else about our lives. It is therefore the most important quest in humans. If our God is small, our world is small. If our God is legalistic, our leadership is legalistic. How we live, lead, and govern are all shaped by our concept of God. The

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—10 January 2023

Heaven’s Protocol As chairman of our Christian Union (CU) at the University of Zimbabwe, I was given a rare opportunity to visit the offices of the country’s newly elected president. The purpose of my visit was to appeal for our CU to be given access to preach the gospel to a particular region of the

Read More »

AFReG Devotions—1 September 2022

The power and means to change: The Church I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,

Read More »

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.