To be Compassionate?
What does it mean to be compassionate? This word shows up many times in the Old and the New Testament. The Greek definition of compassion is to be moved in the inward parts-the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. Now I am no doctor, but I know this list of ?inward parts? are the vital organs. No one lives without a heart, lungs, a liver or their kidneys. These play a crucial role in our vitality, our life, literally.
So to have compassion means that in the most vital areas of my life I am moved by the condition of another. You have heard it said, I am heartsick, broken hearted, I can hardly breathe. There are moments in life that impact us to the very core of our being.
What is it that moves Jesus to the core? We get a glimpse of it in the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 9:35-38: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the lord of the the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Sheep without a shepherd are one thing and one thing only: LOST! As you read through all of Matthew chapter 9 (oh I hope you will), you will see that Jesus is healing many along the way. He heals a paralytic, a dead girl, a sick woman, the blind, the mute, but the one thing that brings compassion, that moves Jesus, is the lost, the harassed, the helpless.
What moves Jesus is the spiritual health of the people. While he addresses the physical health (the temporary), He is compassionate about the crowds? spiritual health (eternal). The crowd (the lost) moved Him to the point of instructing his disciples to ask the LORD of the harvest to send out workers. The harvest (souls of men) is plentiful but the workers (the messengers of the good news) are few.
This is what I love about Compassion International! They are moved by the spiritual health of the children and the communities in which they live.
Releasing children from poverty in Jesus? name!
Mary & Martha just returned from visiting the Dominican Republic to see the Child Survival Program that we sponsor. The CSP is focused on mothers and their babies. At age 3 these littles graduate to the child sponsorship program.
The CSP:
- Provides nutrition
- Prevents illnesses
- Prepares moms
- Proclaims the hope of Jesus.
Take a look at our trip to Compassion International in the Dominican Republic in this video:
Want to know more about Compassion International and how you can get involved? Click here to find out how you can make a difference by sponsoring a child for just $20 a month.