Cultivating a Heart of CompassionSample

Day 4: Compassion in Forgiveness

When I was in middle school, I remember finding out my closest friend had been saying mean things about me to other girls in my grade. I was so heartbroken and upset. I remember reading in my Bible that we are called to get rid of all bitterness and forgive one another. Forgiving people can be very hard, especially when the thing that was done against us was very hurtful.

As we read the Bible, we come to see that God doesn’t just call us to forgive others, but He is ready to forgive us when we sin against Him. What a great love the Lord has for us that He would continue to show us grace! When we experience the love and forgiveness of Jesus it becomes something that we want to share with others. It doesn’t suddenly make forgiveness easy, but when we realize how much we’ve been forgiven, how could we not forgive others?

In Luke 7, Jesus encounters a woman who is deeply moved by the compassion and forgiveness of Jesus. A woman unexpectedly comes to a dinner with Jesus and the disciples. She takes an expensive perfume and begins to wash Jesus’ feet with it. As we learned yesterday, washing feet is an act of servanthood. This woman goes above and beyond by taking this expensive oil and pouring it on the feet of Jesus.

The Pharisees didn’t understand her sacrifice, so they began to judge her, listing other things she could have done with the perfume. Jesus gets on to them because he knows that the woman is doing this because of her great love and gratitude for Jesus. Jesus tells the disciples, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love” (Luke 7:47).

The Pharisees were too critical to see what compassion Jesus was extending to this woman. The woman, on the other hand, understood what great love and forgiveness Jesus offered and didn’t want to miss a chance to thank Him. Often, we can be too critical of people and their sins instead of offering forgiveness like Jesus does.

Which do you tend to do more— judge or extend forgiveness? Why? Who is someone in your life that you need to offer forgiveness to?