COMPASSION

Time with Jesus - Tuesday, 07 February 2012

Hi all,

What is the difference between sympathy and compassion? Let’s have an easy way to look at it. Sympathy prompts you to say, “Ag shame”. Some may even go so far as to state, “I’m sorry to hear about that”. Of course from the expression on their face you feel tempted to respond. “Well if that’s how you look when you’re sorry, when you are happy, you must look like a raving lunatic”. Mind you, I’ve been there often enough. We say to people, “I’ll pray for you”. Then you promptly forget all about it. What makes it even worse when people come and thank you for your prayers, when you didn’t pray at all! Mind you, perhaps I’m the only one who caught in this trap!

Compassion could perhaps be defined as “sympathy in action”. Sure, part of compassion includes sympathy. It has to. Unless you feel “sorry” about a situation, there can be no compassion! If I don’t care a fig about the protection of wildlife, I’m unlikely to get involved in wildlife protection.

Compassion demands you do something about the object of your sympathy. You find this among support groups. John Doe gets ill with a life threatening disease. After many years of treatment; partly successful and partly useless, he gets into remission. He’s learned a great deal about that sickness, and wants to help others who are starting out down the long road he’s just been on. So he establishes a support group for those suffering from the same disease.

Perhaps the best example of compassion I have heard about in my lifetime is Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She went to Calcutta to minister to the sick and dying in that city. She focused primarily on the poor. Her efforts are legendary. “Love” was her motivating force. Because she got involved, millions of men and women have been touched. But it was not her individual efforts alone that made such a big difference. Her example touched the hearts of many women and they are following her example. In fact a new “women’s branch” has been started in the Roman Catholic Church. This has spread her life and example far beyond anything she could have anticipated. It seems that compassion is contagious. In the case of the late Mother Teresa, it has given rise to a new church order. Who knows what will happen when we are touched by the compassion of the Master.

But what can you and I do in the face of overwhelming odds? The “starfish story” is a good example. Two men were walking along a beach littered with thousands or perhaps millions of starfish. They were discussing what they could do. After one of the men threw one of them back into the sea, the other man asked him, “What difference would that one make?” His friend commented, “Not much, but it made a big difference for that one”.

When it comes to compassion, it’s time we stopped thinking about the enormity of any problem. If we all do a small amount, the total will astonish us.

Today’s meditation looks at compassion.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland.

Compassion

Jesus had compassion on them; their sick He healed. The depth of pain and suffering, to Jesus was revealed. He knew of their misfortunes; was touched by their distress; And pity welled up in Him and prompted Him to bless, The crowd that stood before Him. His tenderness and care; The love He had for people who had come from everywhere! Things are not much different from all those years ago. Compassion for all people; for those born high or low. Compassion isn’t sympathy; it’s that and so much more. It causes you to get involved; to open wide the door, That in a very special way, lets you “put on their shoes”; So you can feel the impact, from someone else’s view. It causes you to feel the pain and the extreme distress, That’s prompting you to get involved, to help clear up the mess. It’s rather like what Father feels when looking at His child; And knows with understanding that they have been defiled. It drives us to take action, when wickedness and hate, Is welling up around us saying, “leave them to their fate”. It takes you to Calcutta, to the slums where people die, Of so many diseases, it makes you want to cry. And there amid the squalor as people pass away, You hold them to your bosom, take care of them and pray. It takes you to a hilltop to look along the road. It maybe that your long lost son comes back to your abode. Perhaps you just may spot him walking all alone, Broken, tired and hungry, from the wild oats he has sown? Suddenly you spot him. You can’t mistake that walk. It’s branded in your memory since he first learned to talk. And so you run and meet him in spite of all he’s done, Weeping you embrace him. He’s still your precious son. It stands inside a church hall, where a young man of eighteen, Has come because of all the foolish things that he has been. And in some fateful instant, his hands reach out to You; Knowing in his heart there’s nothing more that he can do. This is the compassion which every Christian needs. It isn’t seeing Jesus as a way to meet your greed. It’s looking at the Master, through all the tears and shame, And knowing that He loves you. After all, that’s why He came! Jim Strickland – Written Tuesday 7th February 2012.