GIVING

“If this is the world where is God?”

Matthew 25: 40

1813.  Newgate Prison for Women.  A hellhole.  Elizabeth Fry

Organised other Christians to come and help.  They provided  practical help, taught the Bible, trained the women, built friendships, treated the prisoners as people who mattered to God.  Lives were won to Christ.

Founded the Protestant Sisters of Charity to help spread hope to the outcasts of society.

What can we learn from her?

1.  Her heart

She served others out of a heart that had been changed by Jesus.

Galatians 5: 22-23 says that His Spirit over time moves us to be more loving, kinder, more generous.

2.  Her eyes

She saw needs that others ignored.

3.  Her feet

 Elizabeth Fry made a decision to walk amongst the poor and marginalized, just as Jesus did.

Salvation Army 1865

It takes the movement of our feet and a willingness to let our eyes see need in order to begin cultivating a heart of compassion.

When Elizabeth Fry died in 1845 she had a heart that was full to the brim.

The great upside-down truth of the kingdom.

 

Luke 6: 38      Matthew 20:28     Philippians 2: 9

Giving, serving, having a heart of compassion, these are the things that are uniquely fulfilling.

 

How do we develop a heart of compassion?

1. Spend time with Jesus.  Mediate on His enormous compassion for you as He went to the Cross.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with a heart of compassion.
3. Begin by noticing.  As you read the paper, watch the news, pay attention to the needy.  Pray for them.
4. Pay attention to people you tend to look beyond each day.  Look them in the eye. Smile.  Give them an encouraging word.
5. Do something to move close to the needy and extend a loving hand.  Notice what happens to you in the process.
6. Ask God to help you to use your money and possessions with a generous heart.
7. Look for ways to serve.
8. Be washed daily by God’s Word.

 

Ephesians 5: 25-27

N.B.

Kingdom people are upside-down people!

Every time you serve, give, reach out, respond with a heart of compassion, you are serving Jesus.