Compassion: The Core of God's Character

This morning I was thinking about compassion, and the critical need we have for it in the church.  I was doing a first mention study of compassion, and came across these verses from Exodus 33:18-19 NIV:

[18] Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

[19] And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

 - and again in the next Chapter- Exodus 34:6-7 NIV:

[6] "And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] 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.”

As I am reading these verses, I am reminded of the fact that God's compassion is part of all of His goodness, that He caused to pass in front of Moses.  This is part of the glory of God, for that is what Moses asked to see. Compassion is one of the core attributes of God, and we must understand this and represent this in our following of Him.

The word in Hebrew is Racham, and it is a primitive root, and means the following:

1) to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion
a) (Qal) to love
b) (Piel)to have compassion, be compassionate
c) of God, man
d) (Pual) to be shown compassion, be compassionate

Websters Dictionary defines compassion as follows: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

I am reminded of Jesus' compassion in seeing the people of his time, as recorded in Matthew 9:35-38 NIV:

[35] "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. [36] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. [38] Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

In this passage, originally given to us in Greek, the word translated compassion is the original Greek word Splagchnizomai.  This is defined as: to be moved as to one's bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity).

So we see Jesus deeply moved out of love and pity, showing compassion to the people, reflecting the heart of the Father in this, for the Father is compassionate, gracious and merciful (as He described himself in Exodus).  You cannot separate compassion from Him, for this is one of His chief characteristics, one of His primary motivations.  Jesus described this in the famous passage from John 3:16-17 NIV:

[16] "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

His ministry, in coming to earth and while on earth, was to extend God's compassion to us all!  It is His compassion, His seeing us in our distress and being moved to action on our behalf, out of His deep love, that is the root of our salvation!  This is a love motivated action!  Hence they call it the passion of Christ!

So let us celebrate the love and compassion of God!  Let us celebrate and understand God's motivation in becoming our salvation, in providing our redemption.  As I go into this Holy week I am reminded that Jesus did all of this, suffered through all of this because of His love and compassion, His mercy and graciousness.

I am reminded of the fact that for me to be a Christian, I am to reflect the glory of God, which is compassion, mercy and love.  I am to allow His love for others to shine through me, to be reflected in my actions.  As such, I must be willing to look past peoples sinfulness, to see them and understand the state of their souls.  I cannot judge, I cannot reject, for the Lord did not do that to me!  I must allow myself to have a sympathetic consciousness of their condition and desire to see it alleviated.  I must be moved to action, motivated by God's love resident in me.

Amen Lord!  Help me to better represent You to all that I meet!