Compassion

I’m reading this book today, and wow, does it ever fit in with this week’s theme.  The title of the section is “Compassion,” and it comes from the book, The Church God Blesses, by Jim Cymbala. Here’s the jist.

The first item on heaven’s dress list is to “clothe yourselves with compassion.”  God’s idea of spiritual fashion and attractiveness begins with tenderhearted pity and mercy toward other people.  One Bible translation renders the word compassion as “a deep feeling of interest,” which stands in stark contrast of the cold, insensitive and self-preoccupied attitudes of society in general….Many of us feel that discerning the faults of others is a sign of our spirituality.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The real mark of Christlikeness is to be stirred in our hearts by what others are going through.  It is to be moved in our hearts by the inner battles with sin and the feelings of inferiority and guilt that people fight day after day.

It is easy to give up on people when we see them continuing down the wrong road, but what if Christ had responded that way toward us?  Remember, we all came from the same cesspool of sin.  Rather than looking away from our horrible condition, Jesus showed great compassion and even gave his life for us.  How ungrateful it is of us to wear the clothes of insensitivity and self-righteousness when the only reason we are in the family of God is that “the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” (James 5:11)

Oh, if I am not struggling to show compassion today, to a couple of people.  People that should be more mature in their faith than me….at least that’s what I would think, because they are in positions of authority, and I want them to be more mature spiritually than me.  What if I applied this idea of compassion and gave these people the freedom to fail, to lack faith?  What if I stood in the gap and prayed for them, with compassion, the same compassion that Jesus has given me?  Would it make a difference?  The answer lies within my own life.  Has the compassion that Jesus has given me made a difference in my life?  The answer is, "Yes."