ARE YOU MOVED TO ACT AS JESUS WAS?

None of us would view the mind of Christ as unique to the first century-to Jesus and the early disciples of whom the apostle Paul wrote: "We do have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:16) And we would readily admit that we are obliged to preach the good news and to make disciples. (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) Yet, it is beneficial to reflect on our own motives for doing that work. It should not be out of a mere sense of duty. Love for God is a primary reason why we share in the ministry, and truly being like Jesus includes being moved by compassion to preach and teach. -Matthew 22:37-39.

Granted, it is not always easy to feel compassion for those who do not share our beliefs, especially when we encounter apathy, rejection, or opposition. Yet, if we were to lose our love and compassion for people, we could lose a vital motivation for sharing in the Christian ministry. How, then, may we cultivate compassion? We can try to see people as Jesus saw them, as "skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36) Does that not describe many today? They have been neglected and blinded spiritually by false religious shepherds. As a result, they do not know of the sound guidance found in the Bible nor of the Paradise conditions that God's Kingdom will soon bring to our earth. They face the problems of daily life-including poverty, family discord, sickness and death- without having the Kingdom hope. We have what they need: "the life-saving good news of God's Kingdom now established in heaven!

When you thus ponder the spiritual needs of those around you, does not your heart move, you want to do all you can to tell them about God's loving purpose? Yes, ours is a work of compassion. When we feel for people as Jesus did, it will be evident in our tone of voice, our facial expression, our manner of teaching. All of that will make our message more appealing to those who are "rightly disposed for everlasting life." -Acts 13:48.

Our love and compassion should, of course, be manifest in our whole life course. This includes our being kind to the disadvantage, sick and poor-doing what we reasonably can to relieve their suffering. It encompasses our efforts in word and deed to dispel the grief of those who have lost loved ones in death. (Luke 7:11-15; John 11:33-35) Yet, such manifestations of love, kindness and compassion must not become the main focus of out good works, as they are with some humanitarians. Of much more lasting significance are efforts motivated by similar divine qualities but manifested in sharing in the work of Christian preaching and teaching. Recall what Jesus said about the Jewish religious leaders: "You give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These things it was binging to do, yet not to disregard the other things." (Matthew 23:23) With Jesus it was not one or the other-either helping people with their physical needs or teaching them the life-giving spiritual matters. Jesus did both. Still, it is clear that his teaching work was foremost because the good he thus accomplished could be of everlasting help. - John 20:16.

How grateful we can be that Jehovah has revealed the mind of Christ to us! By means of the Gospels, we can come to know better the thoughts, feelings, qualities, activities and priorities of the greatest man who ever lived. it is up to us to read , meditate upon, and put into practice what the Bible reveals about Jesus, we must first learn to think, feel, and evaluate matters as he did, to the best of our ability as imperfect humans. Let us, then, be determined to cultivate and demonstrate the mind of Christ. There is no better way to live, no better way to treat people,and no better way for us and others to draw close to the one whom he perfectly reflected, our tender God, Jehovah. -2 Corinthians 1:3; Hebrews 1:
3.

Next time: The Power of Prayer

Watchtower, 2000