Compassion

Rom. 15:² “We should all be concerned about our neighbor and the good things that will build his faith.” (GW, emphasis added)

Our first lesson from the friends of the paralytic man in Mark 2:1-12 [please read] is they had compassion. These four friends became concerned for a hurting friend. Most times, people are just not concerned. We do not even see our hurting friends; we do not see our colleagues that are hurting. But these men saw their friends’ pain and they had compassion.  You and I need to see, literally open our eyes to the pain in people’s lives so that our hearts will be moved by compassion. We cannot thank God enough for the miracles He performs all around us. However, we are also extremely grateful for the people who yield themselves to be used by God to orchestrate those miracles. We have had several testimonies of people who were invited to church meetings and God healed, delivered, restored, transformed, saved, and so on. Someone had compassion on them and brought them to Jesus.

There are people you do life with that are hooked on some addiction, and you keep fighting them about it. Fighting with them will not solve the problem, bring them to Jesus! We have neighbours that we do not even stop to greet or check how they are doing. We just zoom past. How do you know you actually care about people? How do you know that you are not just branding yourself as a caring person? You know you care for someone when you notice their needs, their pain. There so many genuine needs in people’s lives that are going unnoticed. Love is noticing other people’s needs and doing something about it. Rom.15:² ““We should all be concerned about our neighbor and the good things that will build his faith.” (GW, emphasis added). Not just the Pastors, or Ministers, the Bible says we all should care.

Some people are laying down their lives daily so that you can live. When you come across those people or watch the videos on social media, what do you do? Do you forward it immediately so that you are perceived as being concerned? Love is noticing other people’s needs and doing something about it. What are you going to do about it? When we see people’s need, God wants us all of us to be concerned about it. We should all be concerned, it is not for the visitation team, or the hospitality team, or for the Pastors and Ministers alone. We should all, everybody should be concerned. Get involved in projects in your church focused on taking care of people’s needs, supporting families in need. If there are no such projects in your church, start one. I pray that you commit to doing something about the needs God will show you in this season.

Even around us, certain things are decaying, but we do not notice. Is easy to watch a movie and sentimental or even cry. But when last did you cry over a real human being’s need? 1 Cor. 10:²⁴ “People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves.” (GW).

Prayer: Father, please give me a compassionate heart, a heart that breaks for the things that break Your heart and does something about it, in Jesus Name. Amen!