GodReflection: Power Words
On Moses second trip up the mountain with a new set of stone tablets, he encounters God standing beside him in a cloud. Scriptures recites that God passed in front of Moses and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.
God is compassionate and gracious. Consistently, God described himself as the God of compassion.
The compassion descriptor flows from God to Jesus in the Gospels.
Jesus appeared on earth to give a face to God. We are hardly into the Jesus story when we read, he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Time after time, Jesus stopped in His tracks and demonstrated compassion as an attribute of God. This Jesus showed compassion through his death on the cross and addressed the second half of Moses’ proclamation.
By becoming his disciple, I claim the cleansing power of his blood to purify my guilt.
The writers of the New Testament Letters encouraged all believers to develop compassion so that they might mirror Jesus. It is my role, as God’s chosen . . . holy and dearly loved, [to] clothe [myself] . . . with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
From God to Jesus to me to others.
Compassion describes the emotion of complete identification with the needs of another.
The pull is so strong that a response is instinctive. There is no alternative. I can do nothing but act.
God can’t help himself. His love for me is a natural reaction. It can only generate compassion to shade my walk. Jesus can’t help himself. He always reflects the image of the Father. Like the Father, Jesus’ compassion generates love for me.
Now it’s my turn. I am to reflect Jesus. I have no choice but to feel and show compassion toward others.
Ok—what does that look like for me?
Like a balloon, my soul must inflate with compassion to function. Unlike a balloon, my soul will not burst from over inflation.
Compassion—like grace—is a gift I can give to others.
The seed of compassion God planted in my soul grows as I experience life. After the first time I smashed my thumb with a hammer, to witness a fellow thumb smasher invokes compassion.
I find compassion rolls from my life in concentric circles like those caused by a stone when thrown in a calm pond.
It is easy to be compassionate with my wife and children.
It is not difficult to extend compassion to friends.
I will express compassion to acquaintances though they are not friends within my inner circle.
A story of local or national tragedy received from a news outlet will most likely invoke a compassionate prayer.
I find compassion covers like a cloud those things I cannot change.
I think of Jesus’ early childhood, spent with Joseph and Mary as a family of illegal aliens living in Egypt. Trusting God, they were doing what they could to survive. The plight of the illegal alien in our own country invokes compassion. They too are God’s children just trying to survive.
Mass killings continue to shock me. All I can bring to the table is compassion as I ask God to comfort family and friends of victims.
Natural disasters strike with speed and power. Death and long-term recovery is all that remains. I want such tragedy to call for compassion from within my Soul.
The problem is I know my real self. I am not as compassionate as I need to be. I can only be consoled to know I am still in growth mode.
When I reflect on God, I stand awed by His compassion.
How could He love the rebellious children of Jacob? How He can have compassion on the likes of me and you with all of our inconsistencies reaches beyond my understanding.
Like you, I want compassion to be a word of power that lights my path. Each step I take along that path will help me grow to be more like Jesus whose compassion drew deep emotion.
I would love to know what you do to enhance compassion in your life. Will you share a line or two?
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Compassion as a Power Word.
Gary@GodReflection.org
God Reflection 
Gary,
Beautiful, like Philippians 4:8, my thanks. How is Clau coming along? I had my back surgery on the L5, L4 area on October 26, 2011. Amazing but I am back, no pun, and I have been working this week in our garden prepping for the coming Spring season. Lifting, not straining, but sensibly picking up what I can handle or think I can handle. I feel with her, I know the pain beyond word, I understand the struggle with wanting to get “well” right now. I is like layering, a small dose or sheet of paper at a time.
One thing that evokes my sense of compassion is to visit an ER, any ER, the longer I stay the more the Lord strips away my false sophistication. Smug, I don’t hurt, but the world is full of ER’s and truly hurting individuals and families who wonder how things are going to turn out for their loved one(s). Try taking a dose, rarely is enough, of ER. Ouch, my spirit rebels even as I contemplate.
Grace and Peace, Lynn P.S. You are making a difference. Keep up your very fine ministry.
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Lynn,
You got it right on the ER. The OR waiting room works too.
Gary
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Dad, What a wonderful picture of the hurting in the ER. I just love it when the same GodReflection posts speak to you and me! Gary, Thanks for the reminder of Jesus’ parents as aliens in Egypt. I will be more mindful of both today.
At the moment I cannot help but tie compassion to encouragement, first in attitude, then in words and action where necessary. I recently read that “…encouragement keeps [a] child’s stress and cortisol levels low and creates an environment of felt safety and healing.” I personally believe that well-thought through science continues to express God’s original plan, even in our fallen state. My own experience on the compassion-encouragement cycle is: A person in need of compassion receives encouragement, encouragement empowers them and relaxes them, lifting the weight of their burden just enough so they can walk a little further, walking a little further strengthens them, and one day they will be strong enough to pay it forward. If I do my “job” right and get out of the way, then those in need of my compassion hopefully get to see God and love Him more. I hope this has made as much sense in writing as it does in my heart.
Keep up the good work Gary! I am more empowered today with Power Words.
Blessings-Denise
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