Day 8 | January 8

DAY 8 | January 8, 2024 | MORE COMPASSION

VERSES: Matthew 14:14 “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” ESV

Compassion is a quality of Jesus that reflects the heart of God for hurting people. True and genuine compassion always moves a person to action. Sympathy identifies with someone’s pain or need; compassion does not stop there because it responds to someone’s pain or need. Compassion won’t allow you to stand by and do nothing; it compels you to act in the best interests of another at your own expense and effort. Jesus healed the sick, not to prove who He was but to express His compassion for the afflicted and those in need.

LACK OF COMPASSION

In Jonah 4:10-11, we see the prophet Jonah, who had a lack of compassion for people. “Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin]?"” AMP

Jonah had more compassion for a plant that provided shade from the hot sun than for the lost people of Nineveh. The Ninevites never had an opportunity to repent for their sins until the preaching of Jonah. His lack of compassion for the Ninevites is troubling; and to top it off, he resented the fact that they repented and turned their hearts to the Lord.

Jonah’s lack of compassion is especially troubling to those who sincerely love God. Primarily, because our love for God will always be expressed and demonstrated in love for people. Jonah failed to see the people through the eyes of our heavenly Father. The Father desires that we see people the way He sees them. What Jonah needed was a revelation of God’s love for people. If he would have had a revelation of God’s love he wouldn’t have ran from His will in the first place.

The scripture exhorts us to put on compassionate hearts. “Colossians 3:12, Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience ESV.” If you are compassionate, you feel people's pain and struggles as though they were your own. Compassionate people are often moved to action to assist the suffering and afflicted. Compassion is genuine care and concern demonstrated by action to help those in need.  

TODAY’S PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we ask you to help us see people as you see them and love them as you love them. Let the compassion of Christ become increasingly evident in our lives. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them...” Matthew 9:36 ESV.