Compassion

Compassion: A feeling of distress and pity for the suffering or misfortune of another often including the desire to alleviate the person’s suffering. When you have compassion on someone, you are willing to help them. Compassion is also a force that controls how we interact with others.

When we think about compassion, one of the greatest or possibly THE GREATEST examples in history is Jesus Christ! Jesus came to reveal the compassionate heart of the father!

John 3:16 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.

This scripture goes beyond God just sending his son as a sacrifice for us, but as a sacrifice for His compassion towards His people. Even with us being “stiff-necked, stubborn, and rebellious,” God still sent His son to take on our burdens. He sacrificed something of himself, to alleviate our sufferings! Instead of wiping us out because of our sins, he was moved to come to our rescue and help us! Can you imagine doing something of this magnitude, for people who are hard-headed and wanting to do as they please? Caring so much for people who don’t listen, that you are willing to sacrifice your only child? I’ll be the first to say, NO! God had so much compassion on the world that he was willing to help us by giving us a piece of him! If that’s not the purest form of compassion, then I don’t know what is!

This is exactly how we are to be moved to compassion for God’s people! Ephesians 4:32 tells us “Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you. Our compassion for others drives or motivates us from the inside out to act on their behalf. Compassion is a characteristic of God and we cannot confess to love God without having compassion for His people. How can the love of God live in you, if you are not moved to help those who are in need?

So, I pose a question to each of you, how often are you moved to compassion for the people around you? Think about this daily and you’ll have no choice but to move in compassion as God has done!

Compassionately yours,

Coach B