God's Emotions--And What They Mean For UsSample

Jesus and the Heart of Compassion

If you are going to walk in the redemptive nature of God, then it is imperative that you be rooted and motivated by authentic compassion. I am not talking about having just a gushy sense of urgency that pushes you into having to fix people and situations. I am talking about the necessity of knowing how to discern the true heart of Jesus, which compels us by the love of God to take action.

Compassion is one of the defining characteristics of our loving God. Here are several examples from Scripture:

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9 NIV)

And when [Jesus] came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow.… When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. (Luke 7:11–15 NKJV)

Seeing the people, [Jesus] felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

What moves God’s heart with compassion? Simply the helpless, distressed state of someone or something. Instead of standing in judgment when He sees that one of His precious sheep is bewildered, harassed, or in trouble, God is filled with tender mercy that stirs Him to extend a helping hand.

Compassion is the sympathetic consciousness of the distress of others, along with a desire to mitigate or alleviate that distress. Compassion leads to action. That’s how it works with God, and that’s how it ought to work with us.

Jesus Shows the Father’s Heart

Jesus showed us the Father’s heart of compassion by His words and actions. Author and teacher Ken Blue, in his book Authority to Heal, wrote about Jesus’s compassion because, so often, when Scripture describes one of Jesus’s healing miracles, the story includes the fact that His heart was moved by compassion to heal: “The kind of compassion Jesus was said to have for people was not merely an expression of His will but rather an eruption from deep within His being. Out of this compassion of Jesus sprang His mighty works of rescue, healing, and deliverance.”

That’s an amazing statement: compassion was “an eruption from deep within His being.” To describe it as an “eruption” matches the powerful results of His ministry. Now, when you or I find ourselves confronted with a situation of need, and we experience even a scant tremor of compassion, let’s be sure to notice it and act on it, as the Holy Spirit leads. Jesus’s strong compassion is still flowing today—through people like us who will share His love with others. Let’s look on every act of compassion as an opportunity to help others in Jesus’s name, and to expand our capacity to love.

Compassion counts for so much. It builds the bridge to carry the cargo. Look for it when you’re not certain how to pray or what to say. 

Experiencing Jesus’s Compassion

You can’t share Jesus’s compassion unless you first experience it in your own life. Jesus wants you to receive His compassion for yourself. How can you best open your heart to receive His compassion?

You can start by reviewing what you know about God’s nature and then asking yourself, “Who is God to me?” If you believe that God acts on the basis of His compassionate, merciful nature, you will be more likely to not only receive His mercies and lovingkindness, but also turn your heart toward others and release the same. 

You can read the Scriptures with compassion in mind. Again, from beginning to end, the Word is filled with the revelation of God’s compassionate nature. Even as He is a firm Judge, He is also, as the psalmist writes, filled with compassion:

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. (Psalm 78:38–39 NKJV)

Does God really care—for you? Can you trust Him? How has He demonstrated His care for you? How will He care for you today? Make the effort to confess, out loud, what you believe, saying, “Lord, You are a God of compassion. You are gracious toward me. Not only do You put up with me, but You also pour out Your mercy on me and lead me out of confusion and distress.”

Sensitivity to Others’ Needs

Now, when God points out to us someone for whom we feel His love rising up inside us, we know it is time to reach out with a Spirit-filled heart of compassion and help that person. As Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries has beautifully modeled for so many of us, we must learn to “stop for the one.”

Who knows? God’s compassion rising up in your heart may mean that you find yourself doing what one young man did not long ago: After befriending a homeless man on the streets, he was invited “home” to see the man’s tent in the forest encampment outside the city. There were a number of others there. Like Jesus, this young man began to reach out to them, simply touching them on the forehead—whereupon some of them actually got healed right on the spot! His act of stopping for one led to an entire community of homeless people encountering the love of God. That is a testimony to the inherent power of the compassionate love of Christ.

Quite simply, compassion makes all the difference.

In March 2020, four EF4 tornadoes ripped through my hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, leaving much of the city in ruins. Putting many pending deadlines on pause, I went to look at the damage, to take it in, and to pray. I found myself in a district where the poor live, where the people had no insurance, no electricity, no food, and now no homes. Many were touched by the loss of life. As I sat there among the wreckage, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, saying, “I will have a revival of kindness where compassion takes action.” That message gave me hope and renewed vision. I could see an army of helpers rising up who would “walk their talk” and let their hearts be moved with the very feelings of Christ Jesus.

At times like this, we need such “Feelers” as these to arise, people who can be led by the Spirit of God to let the world know that Somebody cares.

PRAYER OF A PASSIONATE HEART

Father, in Jesus’s great name, I want to join with others and walk forth in the compassion of Jesus. I pray that I might feel what Jesus felt and act as Jesus did. Please touch my senses with whatever moves Your heart. I volunteer to go wherever You send me. Here I am—all that You have made me and all that I hope to be as You continue Your work in my heart. For the sake of Your kingdom, pour Your compassion and love through me today and every day. Amen.