Moved With Compassion
By Kevin Miller
I really like to run on trails. I like running with my friends. I like running in solitude just before daybreak. I like racing.
This morning, just as the sun was coming up, I was on a trail that I have run a hundred times. Today it was just me and the Lord and a few dozen rabbits.
I was pressed to ask the Lord, “What would motivate me and my brothers and sisters to freely share your love with people in our lives who have disregarded You? What would create and sustain a culture of reaching out to people far from You? I know we were meant for more.”
“Compassion” is the word that streamed into my head. I remembered a verse that painted a picture of Jesus’ heart for the people who surrounded His life.
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
- Matthew 9:36
Compassion.
The Bible is a compassionate love story. The most quoted verse I know is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” This sums it up simply and powerfully. The rest of the verse defines the depth and result of that love that He has for us, “that He sent His only Son…”
Compassion moved the Father, it moved Jesus, and it is the impetus for us.
“I don’t think I have that kind of love, Father.” I confessed. “I’m lazy and self-centered so much of the time. How do I get the kind of love that causes me to take action? How do I get Your love for the lost?”
“You already have it,” I felt Him say. “I gave it to you.”
Bible verses started jumping into my mind.
We know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
- Romans 5:5
We love, because He first loved us.
- 1 John 4:19
This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples--when they see the love you have for each other.
- John 13:35
It settled in about mile 5. “Father, I am your disciple. Please show me how to use the love You showed me and gave me to ignite me to love the people You love…even if I don’t feel like it.”
Guilt, duty, and enthusiasm won’t power your evangelism strategy long term. But love will. God is faithful and will give you what you need to accomplish His purposes on Earth as it is in Heaven. Do we dare pray the prayer for the compassion that Paul professed in his letter to the Romans?
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
- Romans 9:1-3
