Day 20 - Monday, March 04
Title: DEEP COMPASSION FOR ALL THOSE WITHOUT CHRIST
Scripture #1: Romans 9:1-3 (NKJV)
I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.
Scripture #2: 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NKJV)
I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Poetry & Poet: 
“Still”
by A.R. Ammons

I said I will find what is lowly
and put the roots of my identity
down there:
each day I'll wake up
and find the lowly nearby,
a handy focus and reminder,
a ready measure of my significance,
the voice by which I would be heard,
the wills, the kinds of selfishness
I could
freely adopt as my own:

but though I have looked everywhere,
I can find nothing
to give myself to:
everything is

magnificent with existence, is in 
surfeit of glory:
nothing is diminished,
nothing has been diminished for me:

I said what is more lowly than the grass:
ah, underneath,
a ground-crust of dry-burnt moss:
I looked at it closely
and said this can be my habitat: but
nestling in I
found
below the brown exterior
green mechanisms beyond the intellect
awaiting resurrection in rain: so I got up

and ran saying there is nothing lowly in the universe:
I found a beggar:
he had stumps for legs: nobody was paying
him any attention: everybody went on by:
I nestled in and found his life:
there, love shook his body like a devastation:
I said
though I have looked everywhere
I can find nothing lowly
in the universe:

I whirled through transfigurations up and down,
transfigurations of size and shape and place:

at one sudden point came still,
stood in wonder:
moss, beggar, weed, tick, pine, self, magnificent

DEEP COMPASSION FOR ALL THOSE WITHOUT CHRIST

Great sorrow and continual grief. 

Those are the words Paul uses to describe how he feels when he considers his own people and their state of separation from Christ. He has just written that nothing in all of creation could separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And yet Paul assures us that he is willing to be cursed and cut off from this love that conquers death itself, if it means that his own people would live into the adoption of sonship that is theirs to receive. 

What a paradox. 

Only in the Kingdom of God can such joyful discovery live alongside such sorrow.  

It’s not that we aren’t stirred towards compassion when we see the hurting around us. We’re probably often led to our knees in prayer for the ones we love. But if we are honest—if I am honest—our compassion and will to share this love can peter out. We can grow weary of the “co-suffering” with those who are far from Him or frustrated by what feels like the inactivity of God in their lives.

Sometimes, we might find ourselves ruled more by guilt than compassion, and we quickly position ourselves to walk the road towards weariness, an eventual hardening of heart or merely token obedience. 

I confess that there are many that I have promised myself I would pray for every day, only to quickly run out of steam. Instead, I tumble into repeated prayers about my own immediate needs or concerns. I forget that the purpose is bigger than just people knowing Him for the sake of knowing Him. It is that God would be glorified and seen for who He really is, and that His love would be received for what it actually is––Magnificent. Incredible. Resurrecting. 

It is when I meditate on His glory and His worthiness of our worship and praise, that I am stirred, sustained, and propelled towards the humble posture of being a servant to all people. 

Our love for people takes on great power when our primary passion is to see God exalted through our acts of loving-kindness done in His name, and for Him to be worshiped by those who will one day be transformed by the gospel just as you and I have been. 

It is with this sort of love that we can join Paul in his anguish and in his determination to be all things to all people, and that by all means some might be saved. 

In A.R. Simmons’ poem he is searching for what is lowly so that he might put the roots of his identity there. A bit like in today's artwork, he gets as low as his senses and physical body will allow him to, on a quest for the humble. But all that he finds is that––“everything is magnificent with existence.”

Is it possible that when we die to ourselves and with humility allow ourselves to be made low, to be a servant to all, to become weak, what we find is not a diminution of ourselves or lowliness in the people we encounter, but a magnificence that demands to be seen? A surfeit of the glory of God at work and alive in and through His creation?

Maybe. 

And maybe in light of this magnificence we can eagerly beckon to others saying:

“I'm not the water 
I'm not the bread 
I know the place 
Where your soul is fed 
So hungry and thirsty, 
Come and be blessed, 
I wanna lead you to the cross.”

Prayer
Meet us O Christ, 
With your love that runs deep and wide, conquering death itself,
Move us O Spirit, 
To tune our hearts toward your deeper purpose of drawing all nations to yourself in worship,
Mold us, O God,
To imitate your Son in being a servant to all, that we might win more and fill your courts with greater praise.
Amen.

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.