By Rohmon Merchant

“Nobody feels sorry for you!”, that is an actual statement I say to myself almost as a daily declaration. It is a way to motivate myself to live life on a grander scale, and when I feel overwhelmed and frustrated to realize, “Hey, man of faith! Yes you, the one who made a conscience decision to spend the rest of your days walking by faith and not by sight! Are you really going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself” Trust me, it’s much easier said than done, especially when you find more and more people have found a way to experience both the spoils of their selfish ambitions and sanctity of their Christians beliefs. I will venture to say when difficult times comes to those people (and it comes to everyone) their true understanding of God truly shows and it becomes a testimony or lack of. One of Jesus’ greatest traits is his compassion for people, and what we are starting to see more of, is that people seem to confuse compassion for pity. When I hear people speak to me on what they are believing God for, or how they believe God see’s their situation; it shows that there is a level of thought that God would change their situation “just cause” or “God wouldn’t let that happen to me” attitude. Could it be that God feels sorry for us? Your walk with God should be that, a walk, a continual progression through life. If we are always focused on our self, then when problems come we could look to God like a superhero that would change everything without anything from us. Not saying he needs us to help in any way, but God does want us to walk through our freedom and healing, because he doesn’t feel sorry for us but because he has compassion for us.

For example, Jesus went to a blind man from birth, took mud in his hands spit in it and rubbed it in the man’s eyes, then told him to find a certain body of water and wash his own face off. If God had pity for him there wouldn’t be an encouraging course of action that is connected to his faith. Christ didn’t make it simple for him, he can’t see, getting around his town would be tasking. How then is he to get up, find Bethesda, and wash his face, with mud and spit dripping from his eyes. Its sounds insensitive but Gods healing is always manifested more through the strong and not the ones who see themselves as the victim. That’s not just one time, we hear it after a lot of Jesus’ miracles, “Take up your bed and walk!”, “Remove those death Clothes!”, “Go home to your daughter, and do not fear!” We hear it frequently, through the scriptures and we can see that the Lord not only asks us to do tough things, but through those moments is where we find the power behind Christs love. His overwhelming, never ending, tough love of God. (see what I did there?) Instead of merely feeling sorry for us, Jesus moves us into action. He uses these moments to get our minds off of our self and our problems, and he motivates us to do something about it. I know it sounds like I’m being tough, but they are a lot of people who waste so much time staying in their woes waiting for God to finally feel sorry for them, when in reality “tough love” is what Jesus often used to set people free.