Understands that long after his students have forgotten what he taught them, they will remember how he treated them--every day and on those days they had a special need. No student in tears ever walks past him.
Or you a passer-by or an embracer. Sometimes (too often) we forget that we are the heart and hands of Jesus. When Jesus encountered a person with a need, His compassion responded. And how they responded to His compassion was irrelevant. Ten lepers healed--one said "thank you." Lame man at the Pool of Shiloam, out of fear pointed the finger at Jesus as the real problem--"it's His fault I 'worked' on the Sabbath." Fed the 5000 even though He knew their motives were all wrong--wanted their physical needs met--wanted a Bread King--not so interested in their spiritual needs. But Jesus ;looked up, saw them, and was moved with compassion.
If there is one gift I hope the Spirit continues to build into my life, it's the sensitivity to those around me who are hurting and struggling. My agenda so often strays from His agenda--"love one another as I have loved you." If a student comes into my room upset about anything, on the verge of tears, reflecting in his or her body language that they are in sorrow, may my one priority for that class be that the student knows that he or she is loved and that their Savior cares. If a student--even if I don't know them--walks by me in the hall in tears, may my agenda for that moment be to be sure he or she knows that they are loved and cared for. Even if I ask them if they are okay, and they "lie" and say they are, I must be sure that they know that He cares. I have been placed in those moments to be the heart and hands and voice of God's love. It is not an "accident' that I am there at that precise moment in the eternal plans of God.
By God's grace and the Spirit's prompting may there never be anyone who passes by.
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