Tuesday, August 17: Everyone needs compassion

Compassion has been described as feeling someone else’s pain. Enduring this world, we all are certain to be in a plethora of painful positions. Pain can be emotional, physical or spiritual, though there are times when we are suffering a combination of the three. One of the interesting attributes of pain is that we tend to forget it to some degree, once we have seen the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Yet our body never forgets. That is a gift of sorts, for once we have endured a great difficulty, we retain a confidence of survival when faced with another trial. To the man who has never experienced a pinprick, it feels insurmountable, while a woman having a baby would understand how the two would not be worthy of comparison. Rather than making fun of the man for his ignorance involving pain, a compassionate person would understand that as tiny as it is, his pain is very real to him.


One of the best Biblical revelations of pain and compassion comes from the Book of Job. Certainly Job endured more physical pain than any of us, yet it was the accompanying spiritual and emotional pain of feeling separated from God that hurt the worst. Imagine what Job endured! His seven sons and three daughters died on one day; his entire body was impacted by painful boils, that Job scratched and scraped with a discarded piece of broken pottery; Job’s wife advised him to “Curse God and die;” Job prayed, but didn’t feel God’s presence anymore in his life; Job’s best friends spent hours telling him that God was condemning him for sin, though Job knew that was not the case. He felt completely alone. If his friends would have sat beside Job and cried with him, without any condemnation, it would have helped him more. Yet Job felt like they were piling on to an already difficult situation.

“Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.”---Henry Ward Beecher

We know that God is compassionate. In fact, it is easy to understand how God can feel our pain, as He created us. In Isaiah 53, Jesus is described as a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knows our pain, and everything else about us!


But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious,
Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
Psalm 86:15


A synonym for compassion is mercy, with the best description of mercy being “not getting what you deserve.” Certainly, from God’s perspective, we are deserving of death for our sin, yet God has devised a way of escape. Simply by asking His Son to be the Lord of our lives, the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross will satisfy each of our sin debts. He took the pain that we earned with our lives and in exchange, we receive the blessings that He earned with His life. Some people question how a just and loving God doesn’t just forgive everyone. Would that be love? If your daughter was raped and murdered, would any father want to forgive and forget when the case came before a judge? Punishment is just as loving as forgiveness.


14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Romans 9:14-16


Yet because we are not endowed with God’s unlimited knowledge or His heart, we are called to follow the examples set by the Father in His forgiveness of us, and by Jesus in His life upon this earth. Numerous times in the Gospel, we see Jesus pouring out compassion on the people.


But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Matthew 9:36


And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:14


Even when Jesus was suffering upon the cross, He compassionately looked upon the pain of Mary, His mother, and John, His disciple and friend. Jesus ignored His own great pain and still continued ministering to others. He told John to take care of Mary as a son would and told Mary to love John as she would love a son, filling a need in both of their hearts (John 19:27). At that time, Jesus also asked for forgiveness for those who crucified Him, and saved a wayward thief who was dying beside Him (Luke 23:43).

Each day, we are faced with situations involving friends, co-workers, family members and even strangers. It is easy to condemn people in their sinful pride, and more difficult to love them in the midst of turmoil. Yet that love can cover a multitude of sins. If someone hurts you deeply, and your response is compassion and love, that action will speak louder than words. Most of us can look back on our own lives and remember the voluminous effect that someone else’s compassion had on our lives. If we follow God, we will learn to love more like Him, in that “agape” way.


Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?
Matthew 18:33