And of SOME have compassion...the Wayfarer 1/18/18

And of SOME have compassion

1/18/18

Jude 21-23King James Version (KJV)

²¹ Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

²² And of some have compassion, making a difference:

²³ And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Compassion, empathy, sympathy. tolerance, all are words descriptive of a love given by God for each and all by the mercy of Christ Jesus through His grace that encompass the reason for His having been sacrificed, resurrected from the dead to stand in mediation for a creature undeserving of any of those words without having heard and met the terms of the simple message preached by Him continue to be of importance as they are preached still this day by those continuing to look for that mercy, both for themselves and for all willing to hear.

Luke 11:5-11King James Version (KJV)

⁵ And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

⁶ For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

⁷ And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

⁸ I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

⁹ And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

¹⁰ For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

¹¹ If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

¹² Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

¹³ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Discernment dictates that what is asked, if it is needed and good, is required, just as God gives only those things that when asked for are profitable to body and soul of the asker.

Sustenance for the body is not willingly substituted with poison that not only does not sustain, but in fact destroys that body.

Compassion dictates that when poison is substituted for sustenance, all measures are required to keep that poison away from the body in need of sustenance, and that sustenance itself replace that poison.

That is a definite difference to be made in the life of the one requesting, not sustenance, but advancement of all that comes with the lack of sustenance.

God offers no poison, nor does He willingly provide the means to obtain death rather than life.

That "gift" came and comes from the same subtle creature that offered only death disguised by the glitter of what appeared to be offered.

Jude recognized that compassion was inadequate to make a difference in all, and continued with the necessity to pull from the fire those who can be pulled, while hating even the garment spotted by the flesh that would abuse the proffered compassion.

Fear became a requirement for that pulling. 

That fear remains the fear of God, and the fear of His judgment  that is so missing in so many despite having heard both warning and promise and continue to choose death rather than life.

When neither compassion, nor fear reach those making that choice,  then their choice is made once and for all irrevocably, only to be recognized as sentence is passed by a Compassionate, Just and Righteous  God offering choice of LIFE for those willing to accept that choice.

When stone is chosen rather than bread, it is a poor substitute for sustenance, when scorpion is chosen rather than fish, the poison is certain to run it's course, when serpent is chosen rather than egg, that too results in death rather than life.

When what is asked is a means to death rather than THE means to Life, it is given only by the purveyor of death, rather than the PROVIDER of life.

Choice is made both by giver and receiver of the things found in this temporal realm as to what is given and what is received, what is chosen remains in the hands of the receiver, whether accepting of compassion, or whether that compassion is rejected, whether in fear of God, or whether in denial of the need to fear Him, which denies His existence and glorifies that chosen above Him.

Compassion, mercy, grace, all abound through Christ Jesus alone.

Each is promised for having heard and heeded the warning brought by him, and for having accepted the promise of Life that came through the sacrifice made by Him.

All else is the promise of death which also abounds.

2 Timothy 1:12

¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

  

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer