Mark 1:40-45 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

I just love this verse of scripture. The King James version, as read here, uses the word compassion which really moves me when I read it. As you see in this verse, Jesus knew that if he healed this man, the man would shout it from the house tops, thus preventing Jesus from walking freely within the city. Jesus, knowing what would be stirred up, still healed the man because of His compassion for him.

This is the Greek definition for the word compassion. 4697 splagchnizomai splangkh-nid’-zom-ahee middle voice from 4698; to have the bowels yearn, i.e. (figuratively) feel sympathy, to pity:–have (be moved with) compassion. see GREEK for 4698 Jesus was moved from the deepest part of His being. This man’s need to be healed meant more to Jesus than the privilege of walking freely around.

This is a truth that I hope we all can embrace. I want to be moved to the deepest core of my soul for those who are in need around me. Their needs must be greater than my needs, and my love for them must well exceed the love for myself. I must become the least, and see every man greater than myself.

My friends and I were kind of making a joke this morning concerning the verse that says the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. We were saying that if we become last then that would put us first, does that mean that we become last again because we became first when we were last? I know that seems kind of funny; however, I think that the more we become first in God’s standards, the more last we will feel., so as far as we are concerned, we should always be last and our neighbor first.

Thank you God for your compassion, please help us to be like you…amen.

I was driving down the road the other day when I saw two horses in a field. One of the horses had his head stretched way out on the other side of the fence eating the tall grass. He was putting so much presser on the fence that it looked as though it was going to break. Seeing this brought back to my memory a message that was preached by a good friend of mine many years ago. My friend preached that we all have a tendency to want to do the same thing. That we are never satisfied with the field that God has put us in, so we will desire the grass of another man’s field. He spoke about the fact that we should all be focused on the field that we are in and eat and work in our own field within the boundaries that were set before us. This was an awesome message back then; it was one that I gave a good hardy amen or two. I still remember that message after all these years, so that says something.

When I seen these two horses I began to think on that message of my friend, and I began to see it all in a different light. I did see it, however, as a true testimony of where today’s Christianity is and has become. Let me expound on this just a little.

Everywhere one looks there can be seen many fields and pastures. Each one separated by their fence and boundary. Every field has their own Sheppard who will stand and proclaim that their field is the one to dwell, eat, and to work. This makes me think of the movie Hook with Robin Williams. There is a scene where Peter and his friends set around a table to eat a great big feast, but the reality was there was no food. Peter told them to use their imaginations and just believe there was an abundance of food. All of a sudden, a great big feast appeared that would make any King envious. I think that we have been persuaded to believe that we are in a beautiful pasture that has all that we can ever need, but the reality is it is dry and barren.

We have a pasture field here on the land in which I now live, and we have a few horses. My wife and I were walking out in the field a couple of weeks ago, and one of the horses walked up to us. As it stood there by us the horse bowed his head and began eating of the grass, the only problem was there was no grass. The horses have mowed this field down and devoured every inch. The field looked more like a big putting green then a pasture; however, there is nothing the horses can do about it. They can only go as far as there boundaries will allow.

I was in such a pasture. I ate and ate of the illusion of fertile ground, but no matter how much I tried to eat, it always left me in want. Yes, I was one of those who would stretch my head way out on the other side of the religious boundary that held me captive, and praise be to God the fence broke and I was free. You see, in God’s pasture there are no need of fences. He is our Sheppard. He leads us to green pastures (plural), and beside still waters. When we are in His care and in His pasture, we have no need or want.

My prayer is that we all are free from our religious boundaries that separate us all from being together in the beautiful pasture of our Lord, and no longer eat of the delusion of westernized christianity.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled”.