Compassion, something most of us have little of but desire that others would have much of for us. Compassion is having enough pity to feel a person’s distress. It is cultivating the ability to put yourself in another person’s situation. One of the greatest ways to gain a person’s confidence, entice them to listen, and have an impact on their life, is to have compassion for them. It is not a natural attribute to have, we are not born with it. We are born just the opposite, with a selfish sinful nature.
Many have a lack of compassion because we could never imagine ourselves in the situation of those needing compassion. Our pride makes us feel it could never happen to us. We look down our noses and think we are better than that. May I remind us that “but for God’s grace” it could happen to each of us. We did not choose who would be our parents, what we would look like, what country we would be born into. We had nothing to do with our beginning or the circumstances that lay before us. Paul makes it abundantly clear in I Corinthians 15:10 that everything he is or will be is by God’s grace.
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Compassion is an attribute that is evident if a person has it. It cannot be words only, but true compassion sees a situation and seeks to do something about it. Jude teaches us that real compassion will make a difference. Once again, Jesus is our perfect example of this.
Jude 1:22 “And of some have compassion, making a difference:”
As Christians, we should be known as those having compassion. There are many across the world that show compassion, yet they do not know Jesus as their Savior. Their compassion comes from the way they have been taught, or because they have suffered themselves and know how the other person feels. They may show compassion because someone showed compassion to them. We have the opportunity and obligation to show compassion for a different reason and for a bigger purpose.
Jesus showed compassion on a leper in Mark 1:40-41. A person with leprosy was considered unclean and if a person had it, they were banished from their community and family. It was a horrible disease, no one would touch you, and if someone came near, you were to yell unclean. In the time when Christ was on earth, the only way they knew to not get leprosy was to stay away from it. In Mark 1:40-41, a leper was seeking healing from Jesus. He approached Jesus and bowed down his face to the ground, Jesus was moved with compassion and did something no one else would do, He touched him! Because of this man’s faith, Jesus pronounced him clean. It was Jesus’ compassion on this man that teaches us to have compassion for others that can’t help themselves. Those who are sick need help, and we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus. When people are in need, or in physical pain, it is a great time for us to influence them for Christ. When there is a need compassion will be noticed and appreciated.
Mark 1:40-41 “And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.”
It is a sign of God’s love within us when we show compassion to those in need. Jesus saw we had a need for redemption, and He gave Himself for us, to redeem us. I John 3:16-17 teaches us that if we have the love of God in us, we will have compassion for those in need. If we do not show compassion and seek to help others, we do not have God’s love within us.
I John 3:16-17 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
There is no greater need than the need for a man’s soul to be redeemed. It is vital that we impact them with the love of Christ to gain an audience with them. Jesus is our example of how to show compassion and we are to follow that example. He showed compassion for those who were sick such as the leper, and the blind men in Matthew 20:34. He also showed compassion on those in Mark 6:34, because He saw them as “sheep with no shepherd.” They needed a leader and He was there. He had compassion on the crowd that followed Him and sought His teaching and healing in Matthew 14:14. They had been following Him and had not eaten and Jesus had compassion and fed them. These men followed because Jesus had enough compassion to make a difference in their lives.
If you want to impact people for the cause of Christ show compassion. Invest your life in the lives of others and they will follow. There are people all around us that we are influencing daily, but we need to make sure the impact we are having in a godly one not a worldly one.
