“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” — Mark 6:34
I love reading in the Bible about the compassion Jesus had on others — whether it was little children, His very own disciples, or even the large crowds that followed Him. When Jesus interacted with people, He was moved with compassion toward them.
We read over and over about Jesus feeding hungry crowds, healing the sick and comforting the afflicted. Additionally, two of Jesus’ most memorable parables (the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan) teach us great spiritual truths regarding compassion. From the broken and the hurting, to the blessed and the happy, Jesus personally demonstrated that He is the Shepherd the world desperately needs. When we think about all of these great things, they should remind us that we have something very unique about our faith:
God came into our world to demonstrate how much He loves us.
The very fact that God became a man to walk among us, to serve us and to teach us, in this broken world, testifies how deep His compassion is for Mankind. Isn’t that a beautiful truth to ponder? God’s love for you is so intense that He came to your world to personally comfort you. Furthermore, the implications of this for us (as recipients of God’s compassion) are profound:
God sends us into the world to demonstrate how much He loves them.
Jesus has called us and transformed us to be His personal instruments of compassion toward others!
When we walk in the same steps as our Savior, He will equip us to demonstrate sympathy and comfort to those in need. He enables us to display God’s love by serving the helpless. He does so in a way that can change a person’s life not just for a moment, but for eternity!
When we think about how kind and loving God has been to us, I hope it encourages you to want to give that same love away to others. I sincerely believe that when we see people the way Jesus sees them, it will always move us to have compassion on them.
This week, we begin our Mission To The City. As a church, we will lock arms together to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in our city. I want to personally invite you to be a part of that.
May Jesus give us eyes to see others with the compassion of Christ. Today and every day.
In Him,
You can sign up for one of our 25 Mission to The City events here: www.trc.life/mttc
Posted in A Word from the Pastor