Living-loving like Jesus: Compassion, episode 129

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right

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here at the When You Love a Prodigal podcast and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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And that's, I think, what we're going to really be focusing on for a few weeks.

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I want to start the new year off with a look at what God might want to do in our lives

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through this prodigal journey.

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If you've been listening to this podcast for very long, you have heard me say that God

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is just as committed to working in us as he is in our prodigals.

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He cares about our loved ones, but he also cares about us.

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A primary purpose he has is to make us more and more like Jesus.

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Now, my experience is that takes a while for us, certainly for our prodigals, but for us

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as well.

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And I'm grateful that God has given us a clear picture of what he is working toward, what

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we will be like as we become more like Jesus.

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The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3, Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and

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dearly loved, clothe yourselves with, and he has a list, compassion, kindness, humility,

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gentleness, and patience.

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Bear with one another and forgive one another if any one of you has a grievance against

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someone.

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Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.

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And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

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So what we're going to do is look at each one of those clothing that Paul is telling

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us that we should wear, that we should look like Jesus by the way we're dressed.

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And today we're going to start with the first, which is compassion.

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Our family has sponsored children from the Compassion Ministry for many years.

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We have two right now, one is from Haiti and the other from Nicaragua.

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We've had them for quite a few years and they're basically the girl from Haiti is about to graduate

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high school and the boy from Nicaragua is a little younger, but they're getting up there

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and close to being on their own.

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I love what compassion does.

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They serve, they meet needs, and they develop the children.

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They work with churches in local communities around the world to make specific provision

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for these children that need some extra help because their family often is not able to

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provide enough.

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I enjoy writing to my compassion children and receiving letters from them, meeting their

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family, understanding their situation.

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The same both for my girl and the boy that we get to know them and to pray for them.

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I think compassion is appropriately named to correlate with the biblical emphasis on

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compassion.

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It demonstrates what I believe Paul is talking about when he tells us as God's chosen people,

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holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion.

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First I want to get some definitions for compassion.

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The English dictionary defines compassion as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for

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one who is stricken by misfortune or other problems and it's accompanied by a strong

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desire to alleviate the suffering.

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So compassion recognizes suffering and need in someone and wants to have a part in alleviating

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the struggle to help them.

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But God's word adds much richness to this word.

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Scriptural nuances include to suffer what someone else suffers, to suffer along with

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them, to sympathetically participate in their grief.

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It is closely tied to grace.

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I can think about that because since my husband left over a year ago, many people have come

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alongside me and sought to comfort, had to just enter into the pain and the grieving

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and sharing the load, the burden of that.

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An emotional expression of crying and feeling with someone who is hurting conveys compassion

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and includes the intent to help a will to change the situation.

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So this is not a passive word.

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It's a word that says, I'm going to enter in and see if I can help.

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A mother's love or a father's love, a mother's love is defined in Isaiah 49, the father's

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love in Psalm 103 and the feelings of pity and devotion to help a helpless child embody

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a deep emotional feeling seeking a concrete expression of love.

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Surely you have had such feelings for your prodigal.

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You probably wept over them.

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You've said, why?

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Why are you doing this?

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You've said, I'm so sorry for the struggles that you're having and your heart goes out

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to them.

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And that is compassion.

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Scripture is full of stories of compassion.

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The prodigal son's father in Luke 15 had compassion on him, eagerly watching for him.

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He had left with his portion of the inheritance and they hadn't heard a word from him, but

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the father is watching, watching, watching, and he sees him at a distance coming back.

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And what does he do?

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He prepares his speech to say, all right, if you're coming back, here's the rules.

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No, he runs.

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He lifts up his robe and runs to greet him and as his son starts to apologize and ask

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forgiveness, he just grabs him in his arms.

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He says, oh, my son, you were lost and now you are found.

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And he puts his robe on him and he puts his sandals on him and he puts a ring on his finger.

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And then he says, let's have a party.

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My son who was lost is found.

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It's compassion.

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The Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10 acted compassionately toward the injured traveler,

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dressing his wounds, taking him to an inn, leaving money for the end caper to care for

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him and saying, if it costs more when I come back, I will cover that.

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He showed great even causing him a struggle, he offered to care for him and provide for

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him because he was filled with compassion.

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Now the true model of compassion that we have is Jesus himself.

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He lived out compassion throughout his ministry.

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Let me just give you a few examples.

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Moses and Matthew nine that when he saw the crowds who had followed and listened, he had

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compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

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In Matthew 20, we see Jesus talking to two blind beggars asking that he would heal them

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and he had compassion on them and touch their eyes.

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Immediately they received their sight and they followed Jesus for sure.

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Mark eight tells us that Jesus said, I have compassion for these people who had been following

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him out in the desert areas.

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They have already been with me for three days and they have nothing to eat.

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This is what God has called us to do to put on or clothe ourselves with compassion to

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live out the feelings of care, concern and empathy in action to benefit those we love,

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others that we are concerned for or just when we encounter a need.

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Most of us have compassionate feelings when we see loss, hurt, need.

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To take the next step, to put feet to our empathy, to do something in response to where

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our compassion.

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Now personally, I'm usually too busy or distracted or tired, but God has given me some opportunities

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by sponsoring children with compassion, by taking time in the moment to pray for a need

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that someone has expressed, to listen as a friend pours out her heart, to share my abundance

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of flows and things with those who have less.

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I've been giving many of my late husband's clothes to a rescue ministry or as I hopefully

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did with a man named Robert a couple of years ago.

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Steve and I stopped at a McDonald's halfway on a long journey home.

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As we reached the door, I saw a bike that was covered with camo, backpacks and blankets.

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Then inside, I saw who it belonged to.

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He was finishing a cup of coffee.

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His name was Robert.

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He was a Vietnam vet and he was also covered in camouflage.

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I gave him some money more than he usually received, but far less than he needed.

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But then I gave something really important, a listening ear, some visibility, a little

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dignity.

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He told me his story even as people coming in stared.

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One unfair, hard luck situation after another.

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I believed him.

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Why would I think he was lying to me?

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I left him with a prayer and a blessing and I hope I was wearing some of Jesus' style

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of compassion.

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And yes, Jesus also calls us to put on compassion with our prodigals.

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I know they've caused much pain, cost us a lot of money, embarrassed us, refused to

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make good choices, and in many other ways hurt us and even rejected us.

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Often, they're just rebellion, but even then, they're often underlying issues that have

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caused their responses and reactions.

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We would be wise to seek to understand what might be behind their choices and behavior.

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Our compassion might open the doors of understanding, discovering causes or just promoting healing

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in family relationships.

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I know it's easy to be angry and push them away and say, you did it, that's the last

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time.

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And in many ways, we help them decide to withdraw from us.

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And yet Jesus says, have compassion and treat them with compassion and look for ways to show

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compassion.

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So my question is, what about you?

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Are you wearing compassion?

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It's God to reveal to you words and ways to wear the compassion of Jesus in lots of situations

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in your life, but especially with your prodigal.

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You might be surprised how it might be the beginning of some changes.

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Next week, we will look at kindness.

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God bless you.