Relational Gradus - Compassion (continued)

Ok, we did some role playing and found it somewhat helpful for a few folks. I'm thinking that as we progress that you'll find a greater use for this kind of activity and perhaps your comfort level will increase. At the same time, we can't force somebody to do something they're not comfortable with. Since we all grow at different rates and are at different places in our journey with the Lord, it seems right to let others growth as they can in God while continuing to offer opportunities and encouragements for them. We each have areas in which we are more mature than others … it's ok that we don't look like each other (you should be thankful that you don't look like me!). Our call in Jesus is to look more like Him in character as we grow according to Ephesians 4:13 (MSG or NIV).

Following the role playing exercises, we got together in our small groups to discuss our assignment about where we observed ourselves either being compassionate or not. We closed our time together sharing the highlights from each of the small groups ... a great discussion that we'll continue it next week.

On a slightly different tack … I've heard it said that life is like a bank, that what you invest in it will pay back in dividends. However, I don't think it translates well to relationships because I'm finding it difficult to support the idea with some scriptural foundation (though I haven't done an extensive study). I am interested in having a discussion in our group about the concept of relational "deposits" and "withdrawals".

The agape love given to us from God (Romans 5:5 NIV) is the well from which we draw in our Relational Gradus journey. My reasoning is simply based upon the definition of agape love: unconditional and self-sacrificing. If we attach "withdrawals" to this kind of love, it becomes "conditional" in my mind. What do you think?

When we consider the "dividends" back to God in response to His "investment", I see that we come up short (Romans 5:6-8 MSG). Do you see it differently? How does our thinking on this line up with scripture?

Homework assignment for Monday, April 13th
Consider the following and come prepared to discuss:

• Visualize a spectrum - on one end there is the "deposits/withdrawals" concept … on the other is the unconditional "deposit", without expecting anything in return.
• See what scripture you can find that supports anything on the spectrum either one end or another or something in between.
• How does this influence our thinking on "transparency", "curiosity", and "compassion"?
• How does this affect our living in God's relational economy versus a worldly relational economy?
• Let me know if you have questions about this week's assignment.

Perhaps this next scripture is a little out of context, but I'll risk it: James 4:2-3 (NIV) says "… You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives ...". In James 1:5 (NLT) it says "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." So, let's ask God for wisdom on this and be prepared to have a blowout discussion!!

Blessings!