COMPASSION

COMPASSION

 

Last time I wrote about sin. The word sin is giving a negative feeling while the word compassion arises positive feelings. One becomes warm and happy. If we would have had more compassion in the world, the world would have looked very different. We would not have had terrible wars and people would have been treated with respect, mercy and justice.

When I think about compassion, I think about someone being kind, somebody doing good for others. I think that the word goodness goes together with the word compassion. The words grace, generosity and mercy are also going together with compassion. A person who is compassionate, is often a loving person. I think that it is very difficult if not impossible to show compassion without being full of love.

When one is showing compassion, the person receiving it might not even deserve it. We can imagine a case in court. The prosecutor is coming with a long list of accusations and he might be quite hard. The defender is coming with a lot of reasons for the person to get a mild and small sentence. Is the judge hard or does he have compassion? If the judge is compassionate, he will consider facts from the client’s childhood. He will think about the effect that the sentence will have on the client’s life in the future. He actually wants to help the person to get a better life. He will not ignore the crimes, but choose to show mercy.

I know of many who have made a lot of sins in their old life, but when they got saved, they regretted that. They might want to go back to the person they stole from or lied to. They will often experience that they get permission to keep what they had stolen and many get free from their guilt. Some of these stories are quite touching.

We might go back to the court. The devil is called the accuser. He is constantly accusing us, but Jesus is our Defender. He is saying: “I have paid the price. You can go free. I have taken upon Myself everything you are accused of. I have taken the handwriting of requirements that was against you. “

In Luke 10:25-38 we read about the Good Samaritan. A man was attacked by robbers and he was left half dead. A priest and a Levite saw him, but they ignored him and passed him by without doing anything. The person helping him was a Samaritan. When he saw him, he got compassion and bandaged his wounds pouring oil and wine into his wounds. He lifted him up and took him to an inn and the Samaritan gave money to the innkeeper to let him stay there. The Samaritan got compassion for the wounded man. I think this is the key here. We can read in the Bible that Jesus had compassion with people. I do not think that we should pray for people if we do not have compassion. When you pray for somebody, you might think that this person was your mother of father, sister or brother or your own child.

Compassion reacts and acts.

The needs in the world are great and we cannot help everybody, but we can ask the Lord how we can show compassion. We all have a choice: Should we close our eyes for the suffering or should we be driven by God’s love to do something. Do you care if people get saved or is it ok that they get lost? If you are indifferent, you will not share Jesus with people you meet. Jesus is the most important person in your life. Tell others about Him and what He has done for you and many. You can also share the spiritual gifts that He has given you and do not get stingy, but give freely to those in need. You might even have some extra time to use for others. In Matthew 25 we read about people feeding the hungry and visiting those in prison. They took care of the strangers and visited the sick. Jesus is saying in verse 40: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” You might not be able to do all of these things, but ask the Lord to give you compassion for some people or for one of these needs. Everybody can do something.

To show compassion is the opposite of egoism. When a person is egoistic, he or she thinks about himself or herself all the time. I have also met people that think about others all the time and they forget themselves. It is written that we should love others as ourselves. Sometimes we need to show love and compassion toward ourselves.

I believe that compassion is part of God’s nature and is therefore part of our new divine nature. It should be a lifestyle to show compassion. We must not become like the ostrich and put our head in the sand.

There are times when people will use me in a wrong way and it is not compassion to allow people to become parasites. We might show compassion when we say no. People have to learn to activate their own resources.

ALLOW THE LORD TO SHOWER HIS COMPASSION ON YOU IN ORDER FOR YOU TO GIVE IT TO OTHERS.

Mother Else