Compassion for Burn Victims

I had quite a scare with our propane gas grill last weekend.
The grill was still hot when I had to swap an empty tank. Somehow there was enough residual propane in the connector hose to blow out, ignite and flash back over my face and arms.
My beard and hair were singed and my face and arms immediately turned a bright and painful shade of red.
Very fortunately for me, the worst pain and swelling was over in about 36 hours. Since then I've been applying antibiotic ointment and tending to the few remaining blisters.
It could have been worse. A lot worse.
I immediately had much, much more compassion for truly serious burn victims. I just never realized. As I laid awake that first night my heart was breaking to think of families in burn wards and their terrible struggle to recover or endure. Especially parents agonizing over their children. It was not difficult to pray heartfelt prayers for people unknown to me. I could better appreciate their condition, even though I was spared the worst of it.

Jesus really did experience our condition. He walked around in sandals and lived without plumbing. He saw what it was like to have sin burst back in your face without warning. He actually suffered the insults and hatred of people whom he knew were miserable in their own right. He was not spared the worst of it.

God knew what mankind would say, sooner or later. "How can a higher power have any idea what we are going through? How can she have any sense of this pain, that heartbreak, those diasters, or these failures?"

Jesus is the Word made flesh. God among us. The ultimate act of a supreme being willing to take hold of genuine compassion.

I felt my flesh burn last weekend and believe me, I understand it a lot better than I did the day before.
Jesus put his flesh on a cross and let them drive nails through it after they'd beaten him bloody for performing miracles and preaching forgiveness.

I think he understands us a whole lot better than we like to think he does.

What do you believe?

Unclog the Worldview Filter

Back in our previous home, we had to buy a new air conditioning system, or "heat pump" as things are done south of the snow belt.
I've always been diligent about home maintenance like air filter replacement. A clean filter keeps the air flowing (you stay cooler), keeps the condensing coils clean (the system works more efficiently), and extends the equipment life (doesn't have to "work" as hard).
After a few months with the new system, I notice the air conditioner cycle ran longer than it should. Then I noticed frost build-up on the condenser coil. I called the equipment company and the first thing they asked was, "have you changed the air filter?"
"Of course," I answered, "once a month like clockwork, but it hasn't been the least bit dirty - that can't be the problem."
Imagine my surprise when the technician came out to the house, walked up to the system and pulled out a very dust covered and clogged air filter. He gave me a questioning look, aware of how adamantly I claimed to clean it.
"But that's not the air filter I've been replacing," I said with an embarrassed blush. "It's over here." And I slid out a pristine looking air filter to regain some credibility.
"That's from the old system," he explained with mild amusement. "They should have explained that the new unit bypasses that old filter. That's why you've got this one." He meant the filthy clogged one that was inefficiently overworking the system.
I could have changed that other filter every day and every hour, but it would never have protected the AC equipment, or kept our home in proper condition. I had to stop the clogging dust and debris where it came in and would do the damage. First, I had to know where to find it; then I had to deal with it. And from that point on, the "old" filter was actually irrelevant.

That's very much how my life changed upon reading the Bible and beginning a more personal relationship with God.
Until then, I thought my worldview efficiently filtered out good from bad. But that worldview filter was not in the right place. It was favorably placed where I accepted information and decision flow from university life, a relativistic church home, public media, movies and my favorite song writers. So when I did a self-check, the filter seemed to be in great shape. My lifestyle and decisions were consistent with the worldview filter I'd fashioned. Why then did I sense a spirtual disconnect? Why was I having to work harder to find God's presence in my life?
When I started reading the Bible and committing my spiritual life more accountably to prayer and community, it was if the technician (Holy Spirit) said, "You've had your attention on the wrong air filter; you should be looking over here."
And He was right.
Good and bad, valued and value-less. Mercy and Grace. Temporary and eternal. My worldview filter was incapable of detecting these contrasts with objective clarity.
What spiritual purity did exist in my life had to fight its way past all kinds of conditional dust and debris. My outlook was getting more clogged as each year went by. Thank God there were people willing to tell me I had my eye on the wrong air intake for spiritual matters.

Jesus said,
"You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God." Luke 16:15

I don't need a worldview that justifies me before men or women, but before God.

What do you believe?