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THE SPIRIT OF COMPASSION

Christianity is the only faith born out of compassion.

Any effort that can be made in sharing the gospel with the unsaved that is neither born out of compasion nor driven by the spirit of compassion is void of power and influence. The compassionate heart of the witness for Jesus dissolves the hardened heart of the rebellious.

All religions are the effort of man to find God. However, the Christian life is God reaching down to man. God saw that man was lost, desperate and helpless and He initiated an effort to redeem man.

This act of his love is totally unsolicited. We didn't ask him to do it. We didn't deserve it because of good works. God in his infinite mercies planned and orchestrated.

John 3:16 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. NIV

Although Jesus Christ our Lord was Jewish by ancestry, He is root and founder of the Christian faith.
Jesus came and died for all mankind.

But before then, He walked among men, and with His disciples show in how much the Father God loved humanity.

Matthew 9:35 "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." NIV

Here we see Jesus looking at man in his frail, fallen and helpless place. And man could not help himself. He had willingly made himself a slave to the devil in the garden. New Satan torment, harassed and bound him in shackles.

Acts 10:38 "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."

Peter summarized the works of Jesus in the verse above. Jesus went about doing good. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit, He healed the sick, liberated the bond and did everything good to man, bringing comfort to his fragmented life.

It was a great act of compassion.
Both when He was walking among men and after He rose from the death, Jesus instructed His disciples to go forth in the same spirit of compassion.

Jesus our Lord illustrated our position in God's scheme thing in Matthew 5:13, 14 that we are both salt and light to mankind.what does that mean?

It means that we possess such great influence as He did, to demonstrate heavenly positive authority.
We need not to look down on sinners with pride but in all humility to look at them with great compassion.
Paul summarized it in this powerful way in 1Corinthians 2:1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters.

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Paul's ministry of the Word was not from a haughty and superior view point. He was conscious of two facts, the urgency of the need of salvation for the sinner and the reality of the fact that, no effort of man in itself could save the sinner but the power of God.

Therefore, in order to avoid distracting the sinner from the precious gospel he was in fear and trembling and would not rely on human capabilities but exceptionally on the power of God.

The earthly important position of a sinner has no relevance when it comes to spiritual need. The drunkard is not worse than a religious sinner. The prostitute does not have more need of salvation than an unsaved virgin.

We must imitate Paul, and share the message of the gospel compassionately.

David Pam McQuel
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