Primal - by Mark Batterson, Chapter two - The Tribe of the Transplanted

I am enjoying the book PRIMAL - A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson.

Have you ever had a sympathy breakthrough? A moment when your inclination to hate was overcome by your will to love? A moment when proactive compassion overrode reactive anger? A moment when you cared more about someone else's pain than your own? I recently dealt with an issue in our School District that hit real close to home and when I saw the student and the Dad it brought tears to my eyes. I had one of those moments!

I believe that God is calling us to a new level of compassion. You see, if we have the heart of God in us, our hearts have been transplanted. We now have His heart and our old selfish heart has been removed and is no longer beating.

I love this quote from Mark's book Primal - "In my experience, it's much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart. And if you love God with all your heart, you won't just act like it. You'll react like it."

Inside each of us is a God-ordained passion that makes you glad, sad or mad. There is something that breaks your heart because it breaks the heart of God.

The question is this: what are you going to do about it?

I'd love to read your comments on your breakthrough sympathy moment and what you are going to do to be more compassionate.

Talk with you soon,

Pastor John