PUT YOURSELF IN SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES

sermon 7.

 Put Yourself in Someone Else's Shoes

A sermon preached on 11/02/2018

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him for He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust"-- Psalm 103:13-14 KJV.

God as a father of all that dwell on Earth shows compassion to his children because He knows they are dust. There could be a time God would vent His fury on man's wickedness, but when He remembers that we are made of dust, He relents because he knows how weak any person made of dust is, capable of having many trials and sorrows.

Now, as Christians, never forget to continue showing compassion to anyone, putting yourselves in their shoes---their situations, getting to know what they are passing through and the factors that are causing them to react in the manner they do. In this sermon, we shall consider two prime questions that will aid us to consider someone else’s problems as paramount as ours to solve.

What will you do when you see people who are confused and helpless? Put yourself into their situation, and no one would need to beg you before you would volunteer to help them. Why people don't show compassion on others is because they don't put themselves in other people's shoes – their suffering, pains, and problems. The moment we take people's pains as ours is when we make conscious efforts to help them, because we feel their pains in our bones.

Matthew 9:36 indicates that when Jesus saw a crowd of sick people who were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, He had compassion on them; His compassion motivated Him to heal them of their sickness.

Note: See yourself as a helpless person for Christ's compassion to work in you. You need help from God; would you humble yourself and look to Christ for a miracle over your unspeakable situations right now?

Nabal could not show compassion on David and his men when they were hungry because, as a wealthy man who lacked nothing, Nabal did not put himself in the shoes of the helpless David and his famished men. Perhaps Nabal had never experienced hardship in his life. If God would bring our political and religious leaders from the apex of their affluence down to poverty for them to know what the poor are passing through and mercifully bring them up again, they would learn to help people in need, especially the poor around them.

Note: David and his men had been helping Nabal, protecting his flocks in the wilderness, and nothing was stolen, but he had repaid him evil for good. What about you? Perhaps, you have served people honestly, but when you need help from them, they seem not to help you, because they never put themselves in your shoes.

Illustration: God has given me the gift of writing. I have written a lot of books, unedited and unpublished. I have searched for editors and explained my conditions to them as they wanted me to pay some money which I could not afford. Until one day, I contacted Douglas Cooper, Ph.D., an editor and former professor at Harvard University, in the US. I pleaded with him to help me edit my manuscript, offering him $80 even when I knew it would take me many months to earn the money. But when he saw how miserable and helpless I was, he put himself in my shoes, and then showed compassion on me, and then edited my work without charging me any farthing. I owe him many thanks.

Now, if God has delivered you, you owe Him thanks and gratitude. This is what the ten lepers Christ healed failed to realize, except for one fellow who came back to thank Him.

The evil I plan to do to people, what if they do it to me, how will I feel? You might make plans to steal, to rape people's daughters, to spread false rumours to tarnish their image; what if someone else were to do to you what you plan for others? How will you feel if others damage your good reputation? There is a golden rule for this attitude found in Matthew 7:12--- "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you."

Brethren, let us see all of us as one, and one man's trouble should be ours with love. By acting in love, and oneness, our problems will be lesser.

May God smile on you and show you his favour now and forever.