The compassion of Jesus

-
As an Uber driver, I have many opportunities to meet people and sometimes, hear their stories. Today I had a gentleman who stroke out a conversation about many things with me. One of them was about work. We talked about how sometimes this generation lacks work ethics and a desire to work hard to get the things they want. He told me that when he was a boy, his dad used to take him to an airport to hang around with his work buddies. He was only fourteen and started doing some things to help around the planes and helicopters. After a while, the workers told his dad: "Hey, you got a good boy there, what about you bring him every weekend for him to fill the planes and the helicopters with gas and do some other things around the airport and we'll teach him how to fly? Well he did. His love about flying grew and now, as a middle age man, he's a professional helicopter pilot. What a story of hard work!

But it doesn't end there. He started getting comfortable and started talking about personal things. He confided in me that he had lost his wife a year ago and of course I said that I was very sorry for his loss. I also told him that he looked he was dealing pretty well with the loss of his wife  but he said: " I look like I am dealing with it well but I'm dying inside". Immediately, I felt compassion for the guy and this verse came to me: "Seeing the people, He (Jesus) felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd."
Matthew 9:36 NASB1995

Jesus felt compassion for distressed people the same way I felt it for this guy who, I think, needed a word of encouragement. I sent him a text. I had his number because  he had asked me to pick him back up at the place I dropped him off. I felt the Holy Spirit wanted me to do that. I simply said that the Lord of all comfort will comfort him in the midst of his suffering and that He will give him many blessings.

When I was physically going to Bible college, one of my professors used to say: " One of the things that Christians lack the most is compassion". And I believe it and I wish I'd practice this more often that I have.

We have a tremendous teacher on compassion in Jesus. He felt it! When was the last time you were compassionate towards another person? Learn from the Master and practice compassion. The spiritual reward is amazing. I was feeling very anxious today and God sent me this man to comfort him in the midst of my anxiety. Wow! Now, I understand David when he said in Psalm 94:19: "When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy."  His consolation towards me came in the form of me comforting someone else. What a privilege to be able to do that, what a blessing to be blessed by the Lord of the universe. You feel an unparalleled peace indeed when you exercise compassion. So my friends, stay compassionate. It's good for your soul!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I cannot quit!

-
 How many times in life have you ever wanted to quit something? How many times have you ever wanted to quit life itself? To just not care anymore and let life live you instead of you living the life that God intended for you to have. The Christian life is obviously not a garden of roses where everything is perfect and free of trouble. That was a life that was intended for a different type of garden. That was the Garden of Eden but even then, Adam and Eve messed it all up because of their sin. Sin entered the world and we've been living in a broken world ever since. That's why imperfections exist in our lives whether we like it or not. Each one of us has their own specific imperfections that either drive us to be more like Jesus or cause us to fall into the deepest pit that we could ever imagine. We have to make a decision. We either quit or we survive by the mercy of God. But, sometimes God allows us to hit rock bottom so that you may know what you're made of. He already kn...
Read more

The best life summary ever told Part-1

-
I remember when I was in high school  I was required to read several books during the school year. You were encouraged to read the whole book thoroughly, not only because you were going to be tested on it, but also because you were required to write a summary of it. So, if you decided to skim through the pages and not read the whole book, your summary wasn't going to be a very accurate one. The apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 3:16, gives us an excellent summary of the life of Jesus and in my humble opinion, it's the best life summary ever told, a very accurate one. This is what Paul says in this majestic verse: "Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory". First of all, we can see that Paul calls this summary of Jesus life "the mistery of godliness" and he says it's "great ". How can he not s...
Read more

God is not done!

-
The other day I was listening to a pastor being interviewed on the radio and, at some point during the conversation, this pastor started repeating the phrase "God is not done!" as he told the story of Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. He pretty much interweaved this phrase with the critical parts of Joseph's life. Let me retell that story in my own personal words. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and he was a dreamer and not about regular dreams like you and I have. They were messages from God that he, at his very young age, probably didn't understand very clearly. One of his dreams was about the fact that his parents and his brothers will one day bow to him. That didn't sit very well with his brothers so when they had the opportunity, they conspired to kill him. But, Reuben, his older brother told his brothers to not kill him but to just throw him into the empty pit and leave him there. Then Judah had this great idea of selling Joseph into slavery after...
Read more