COMPASSION
12th Jun 2024
Compassion requires action and commitment. It says in Matthew 14:14, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
A crisis situation can cause all kinds of reaction in us. We can feel sadness, sympathy and be distressed at what has happened. We can send a sympathy card when someone dies. We can have a brief conversation with someone going through a crisis. However, compassion is something else.
In the parable of the Good Samaritan we find three responses; the priest really wanted to ignore the situation, perhaps he thought that service in the temple was more important than reaching out to the injured man. The levite looked a little closer, but still did nothing.
The Samaritan saw the crisis, it touched his heart, and he went into action. He attended the wounds, placed him on his donkey and took him to a place of safety. But it did not stop there, he left some money and promised to return. Compassion is more than a single act of kindness, it is a commitment to see things through to healing and restoration.
Paul was expressing compassion as he wrote to the Philippian believers, in the early verses of the first chapter he says, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy…it is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart.”
Compassion will flow out of us to others when we have them in our hearts.
Is there someone who you are being called to reach out to with compassion? It will require time and action. It is not a quick fix. It will feature in your praying on a daily basis and will need regular contact and time. In so many situations, once the immediate crisis has passed, those going though sadness, long term physical needs and the loneliness of coping with life on a day to day basis feel very unsupported.
Lamentations 3:22 says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are now every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
We have a Father whose compassions never fail, however, we need to be those who don’t just express sympathy, but who will reach out with compassion and meet someone’s need. Do it today
by Charles Sibthorpe
