Having Compassion One of Another

In the language of the New Testament, the word compassion comes from the word sumpathes, from which we get our word ‘sympathy or sympathetic’. Compassion is rooted in a word that means ‘to experience pain together’. Someone said it this way, “Compassion is your pain in my heart.” When you and I have sympathy for someone, we feel their pain. Sympathy, or compassion, is an emotion.

Compassion is oftentimes mistakenly identified as love, though is it not like agape love. If you say of someone in a relationship, “Oh, I don’t love them anymore,” what you probably mean is “I no longer have compassion for them. I have no more feeling in my heart for their pain.” But, we mistakenly call it love. In fact, oftentimes people confuse being in love with having compassion. Compassion is an emotion that one has for someone. The Bible says agape love is a love that never fails. Agape love is not an emotion; it is a decision and a commitment. When you love someone, you may not have compassion for them, but you may still (and you ought to still) have a commitment for them. In other words, “I am still committed to monogamy in our relationship. I’m still going to be responsible to my duties.” But, it’s nice when there is feeling that goes along with it.

Compassion is used directly forty-one times in our English Bible. The first time it is used is along a river in Egypt where Pharaoh’s daughter is bathing and finds a little ark, or boat, floating down the river. When she opened the lid on that little boat, there was a baby in there, and the baby began to cry. Of course, we all know this was the baby Moses. The Bible says, “And when she had opened it she saw the child and behold the babe wept and she had compassion on him and said this is one of the Hebrew children.” She suffered with him. That’s actually how that word is translated in Romans 8:17, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him (sumpathes), that we may be also glorified together.” In I Corinthians 12:26, the same word is translated all members suffer with it. “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it (sumpathes); or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”

Sympathy or compassion is when someone is hurting, and we hurt with them. I want you to understand with this exhortation of how to have compassion one of another, which is extremely important because usually when there is stress in a relationship or stress in your life, one of the first things to go is your compassion, because you don’t feel like being nice. You don’t feel like being kind. You don’t feel like being gentle. You don’t feel like being sacrificial. But you must remember, compassion is not a feeling! It is imperative that you and I learn how to have compassion when we are under stress in our relationships.

Over the next several Mondays, we are going to discuss this topic of compassion, its qualities, and how we can show compassion to those around us. First of all, I want you to notice that compassion is measurable. In Psalm 78, the Bible says, “God is full of compassion.” That is a measurement. If you and I are going to be like God, you and I are going to have to be filled with compassion. The Bible says concerning Jesus, that He was “touched with the feelings of our infirmities.” That means that He has compassion for us. You wonder, “Does anybody care?” Well my friend, you can be sure of this: Jesus cares for you. That’s why the Bible says, “Casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you.” He has constant fullness of compassion for you and me. Remember, no one has more stress on His shoulders than Jesus. We sing that little song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands,” but He’s got more than that! He’s got it all in His hands; and yet, He has the time to have compassion on us. Our Lord is full of compassion. In fact, Psalm 86:15; 111:4; 112:4; and 145:8 all tell us of that very fact.

You may be full of compassion. If you are there, that is wonderful! What a blessing! However, you may be only half-full of compassion; and yet, some of you may have only the fumes. Your “compassion tank” may be on “E” and the lights are blinking, and you are barely sputtering along. How does this happen? The reality is that our circumstances and stresses of life can diminish our compassion and bring us to a place where we are numb to people’s pain. Now, let me tell you, this is not a good way to live. However, it is highly possible to do the right thing and not have any feeling in it at all. It is done all the time. People pretend to care, when really there is no genuine care at all. But this I know, you don’t have to get too close to a skunk before you can smell it! It is despicable when people pretend like they care when they really do not. Compassion is a measurable emotion. How does your compassion measure up right now?