Thoughts for another day

Feb. 25, 2008

Today's verse: Lk. 10:37. And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

There is a type of human nature, taken directly from God’s nature: it is mercy or compassion. At birth the first emotion we experienced in all probability was love; shown by our mother, in placing us in her bosom and giving both nourishment and warmth (the world is sad for those children that never experienced love from their mothers). From this love emerged compassion. Compassion means forgiving or helping or both. A great thing about compassion is when our heart is moved, seeing the pain of someone unknown and we feel like doing something, perhaps at a cost to us – money or time or both, or some other risk e.g. taking an accident victim to hospital, etc.

Compassion is a trait that should come naturally because we’re created in God’s nature. That’s why in our verse today, which culminates the story of the ‘good Samaritan’, Jesus asks us to do as the Samaritan did. Or, put another way, go to the extent of being compassionate and even helping those unknown to us, not for any recognition but because we ourselves experience God’s compassion in our lives.

Brothers and sisters, I fail to understand how we can be mute witnesses to suffering around us. We see hunger-strewn faces and not even offer a small morsel. We see the sweat of the man in the street pulling a handcart and not even offer a glass of water. We behold the pain in the eyes of a child and ignoring it, go about our duties and then in the evening sit in prayer and beg to God and of course, expect to be given by Him.

Compassion is a great nature. God expects us to be compassionate and yield to its call of duty. We may not be able to do much, but we must do the little that we can. We may never change the world by our compassion, yet somewhere there will be a little warmth in someone’s heart because of what we did. I urge all of us today to be a little more compassionate and look upon the unfortunate. Perhaps, that could be the only opportunity for them to experience the love of Christ.