…and this is the glorious good news of the gospel. We have no right or claim to these promises. Neither can we graft ourselves into them on our own. We must be grafted in. Welcome to Holy Baptism.

“I’m not saying to be reckless and unwise, but we can serve our fear more than we serve our Lord! That is not God’s call on the Christian’s life. He did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. We weren’t created to control everything around us.”

There will be times when we will be tempted to use and abuse compassion. And if we do so, we end up harming the least of these. It does not give life; it does not feed the soul. But we also harm ourselves. We embolden self-will. We attempt to subvert God’s will. The result of the use and abuse of compassion are not life-giving; they are life-taking because, at its core, compassion is about mercy.