Showing Compassion to the Prodigal

I was at this meeting and the power of the Holy Spirit came down in the room. I was so wrapped up in His presence, so in awe at the beauty and majesty of God and in such fear of the Lord that I was afraid to even stand, I was kneeling with my head on the floor. When suddenly it occurred to me that most people in the room were still sitting and somewhat casually. I became immediately infuriated and jumped to my feet. I went to the front and grabbed the mic. And told them all to stand. Stand for the king of kings is in the room.

At which moment I look to my left and I see one of my friends actually still sitting. I looked at him slouched on that sofa, practically falling asleep, might as well have had a snot bubble coming out of his nose like in the cartoons. All whilst the king of kings, the lord of lords and creator of the universe was in the room. The one whose very finger could crush the world in its entirety, the one whose mighty robe fills the temple, the one who was and is and is to come. This omniscient, all powerful and omnipresent God had given us the grace of honouring us with his royal presence, and this boy was not only refusing to stand because apparently he was tired or simply couldn’t get in the zone to pray, but he had no interest in even remotely respecting the Lord of Lords.

This reminded me of that moment when the apostles fell asleep in the garden. Even then, man’s mere interest was in the flesh. In the weakness of the body and in putting oneself first. Even with their most beloved saviour sweating blood a few yards away, they had the nerve to actually fall asleep! And yet again put themselves first.

I shouted at this friend on the sofa in the middle of everyone, they all turned. He jumped up embarrassed then simply walked out and left the meeting. Let’s just say our friendship was never quite the same after that. But I was proud. I was happy and confident and felt honoured to stand up for my God. I felt like a lawyer does when they stand up for innocent. I was relieved and felt so special to know who I was serving and to wake up the ignorant in this world, no matter what I had to sacrifice.

But to my surprise, the next day I didn’t wake up feeling as I did that night: proud, invincible and strong. Feeling as though I had stood up for the entire kingdom of heaven and shown my faith proudly, as an angel stands in guardianship of the gates of heaven. I didn’t feel proud. In fact, I felt convicted. The spirit convicted me and the Lord came with a gentle voice and spoke to me.

“I don’t need you to defend me,” he said.”this is not new to me. For thousands of years man has dishonoured and disrespected me, turned their backs on me. For years I’ve repeatedly saved them and been faithful to them, and again and again, their interest was far from honour or the holy fear of the Lord.”

Call me crazy but I felt sorry for God. I felt sorry for Jesus. I pitied Him. My heart broke for him as though he was a friend of mine in a classroom that everyone picked on.

I realised in that moment what I was trying to do. I was trying to fight the battle that Jesus came to win. I was trying to convince man that God was worth serving. Worth honouring and worth worshipping. But I couldn’t do it. I was never meant to do it. If man had been able to convince man to serve God, Jesus would’ve never needed to come. And even when he did, Jesus never came to tell the people off and argue that they dishonoured God and are completely pathetic excuses for a humanity. The only moment he did do something similar to self defence was when he told off the people in the temple about selling in the temple of God. That was the only time he defended the house of God in anger. Because the temple held the history of God’s house in the midst of His people. Of course until Him. But when it came to himself, Jesus never defended himself. Even when he stood on that cross and could’ve easily proved his innocence and showed them all what hypocrites and sinners they all were. He could’ve so easily shouted at them as a father to a son in complete disappointment and disapproval. And they deserved it too! But instead, he chose to be quiet and let them be. And henceforth to follow through with Gods mighty plan.

I realised that day that this battle is not for us to win. It’s not even a battle for us to fight. Don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting that if we see God being dishonoured in the church that we shouldn’t correct or rebuke for the Bible does teach us to correct and edify through the spirit. But rather what I learned is that man cannot be changed through force. Only through love.

That’s why Jesus’ sacrifice means so much. Because it’s the ultimate sacrifice of love. So if you do edify or correct, even that very comment needs to be done in love. And in the acceptance that you cannot force change upon that man, no matter how vital it may seem to you.

The amount of love it takes to change a man for good is the amount only Jesus could give. A love that would finally cause man to change, to choose to honour God above self, above pride or his own selfish desires. A love that took this very same God we serve coming down and proving his worth of worship and praise not by telling us how good he is and that we better worship otherwise we’ll dishonour his name and die, but rather God coming with an amount of supernatural love that showed him meek, quiet, gentle, kind and above all, forgiving.

And after that, if we still cannot choose to honour him, then it means we do not know him. For to honour and worship and prioritise him in life means to know him. And if people don’t know him, all we can do as individuals is pray for them. Pray that they truly seek God, find Him and get to know him. Spend time with him. For that’s the only way to get to know him. Pray that they awaken to their inward need for more of Christ and that their hearts melt at the desire to not only just have more but have all of it. Get to know God in all His forms and all His greatness. So when it comes to dealing with them directly, I’ve learned that it’s only through love. We need to love them as Christ loved us. If you work to edify the church, do it in the spirit, lead by him and his patience and compassion not by your pride or fleshly need to defend God. No matter how morally dignified that may seem. It’s not our job to convince. We are called to inform and lead people to Christ. The rest, the decision, the transformation, the permanent transformation is all in God’s hands.

In my life, I’ve found there is a lot more change and impact I see happen when I pray for someone honestly and allow God to speak to them directly, me getting out of the way and choosing to love them and bring them to God in compassion and desire to see them saved, healed, delivered, encouraged, whatever it may be, than when I go before them in so called holy anger and merely rebuke them that they are sinners and need to repent and honour the Lord.

Don’t get me wrong, a pastor should preach, a teacher should teach, a Christian should listen and seek to learn, but getting to truly fear the Lord and honour Christ to the amount he deserves will only happen when we choose and desire to know him. And choose it again and again. But that cannot be forced on people, no matter how much we’d like it to be. And it certainly can’t be pretended or done merely because we’re “Christian”. It has to be done out of pure, individual and voluntary desire. And only then, will it last. And not only last, but be our entry into hearing our everlasting Father finally say “well done my good and faithful servant, welcome home.”

(Go deeper into this topic and listen to this post on my podcast: Bold and Virtuous)