Lent: A Journey Through 7 Spiritual DisciplinesSample

Week Four: Compassion & Relationship

Think about your closest relationship, whether that’s with your spouse, parent, child, or good friend. How has that relationship changed over the months or years? Maybe you’ve gotten more comfortable with that person, spend more time with them, or try to serve them more often. But above all, you might realize that you feel a growing tenderness and affection toward that person: a kind of love that is soft yet strong.

The closer your bond grows with someone, the more you love, care about, and want to serve them. That’s how compassion begins.

Compassion is that deep feeling of love for someone else, seasoned with tenderness and woven with love. It has more layers than something like sympathy or empathy. It draws nearer to the red-hot core of what love really is. Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary paints a distinction between compassion and empathy, saying that compassion is more involved than empathy because it includes “a desire to alleviate the person’s distress.”

That’s the kind of compassion Jesus displayed in His earthly ministry. He not only understood the pain each person was going through, but He also took action to heal those who were suffering. Compassion drove Him to action.

Throughout the Bible, God is described as “compassionate” or “showing compassion” on His people, forgiving a person or a nation of their sins and choosing to love them.

For a relationship to develop, compassion must be present. And we are called to emulate that compassion - the kind that leads to action, to service, and to sacrifice.

Take the parable of the prodigal son. The father had compassion for his son and chose to welcome him with open arms instead of turning him away. The father knew what the son was going through, and he took action to “alleviate [his son’s] distress,” to quote the dictionary definition.

This week, challenge yourself to demonstrate compassion toward someone in your life who you might not be close to—or maybe don’t get along with. Prayerfully sacrifice your own desires to show compassion.

1. Do you think it’s easy or difficult for you to feel compassion for someone? Why or why not?
2. Why is it important for us to show compassion for or toward others? How does God have compassion on us?
3. Describe the kind of compassion Jesus showed for His people. How do you think Jesus would define compassion?