No matter where we look in the world today, we can find needs begging for attention.
The same was true in Jesus’ day.
Throughout the gospels, we’re told that Jesus recognized the needs around Him and “felt compassion.” And every time, His compassion caused Him to act.
When you notice needs around you, do you feel compassion?
Does your compassion compel you to action?
As you read through the following verses, notice the verbs, the action, that is connected to a heart that feels compassion.
Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
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And if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday; And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
Isaiah 58:10-11
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He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
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And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax gatherers and sinners?” But when He heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9:11-13
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For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luke 12:48
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And the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.
Matthew 25:40
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Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
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So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
Galatians 6:10
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But God, being rich in His mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-5
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For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13
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But whoever has the worlds’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:17-18
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We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:19-21
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Christ’s compassion has been lavish toward you. How can you actively share that today?
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Thank you, Abi, for a well thought out post about compassion; it is an important and timely message. These are definitely verses to pray and think on.