Depth of Compassion
Jeanne Stewart, Oklahoma
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence
shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15
The
still water of the garden pool reflects the glistening leaves of the trees that
surround it. Everything is still and for a moment in time, peace is near and
quietness sits beside me.
I
have come to believe that compassion is a process of living. I have learned from
the difficulties and disappointments of life God’s amazing love for me. It is
His pure love that shows me His mercy in the midst of my miserable failings and
His aspect of grace as His love moves to forgive.
Many
times in my silence, He sits beside me unwearyingly waiting for me to share my
heart with Him. In the natural I may not see His form but He is so near in
spirit I know His love as it permeates the atmosphere around me. The I Am is
such love that I am overwhelmed by His depth of compassion for me.
What Does Compassion Look Like?
“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied
when I awake in Your likeness.” Psalm 17:15
I
remember years ago when I realized that the secret of loving others had its
root in loving God with all my heart. Thus came a commitment of total surrender
of my will for His. I had to commit to loving others even when I knew that I
would not be loved in return. To give of myself even when not accepted, and
sacrificing my need in order to first meet the needs of others: this is true
compassion. The depth of compassion that holds the image of Christ’s likeness
lies in the passion with which we live our lives.
It is
through the process of edification He builds us up into undisclosed places in
Him. God’s spirit flows in and through us as we allow Him to prepare us to take
on His image of mercy.
We
must be flexible in God’s process of repositioning and reorganizing our time
and resources. Change is for our ultimate benefit: the greater perfection to
obtain an excellent spirit in our walk of grace as we draw nearer, receiving
more of His wisdom as He directs our steps.
Degree of Suffering
“Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy (compassion).”
Matthew 5:7
Compassion
grows in those times of silence and quietly waiting when our weakness turns
into His strength as the love of Jesus reflects in us, ‘…with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with
one another in love.’ (Ephesians 4:2)
Many
times the healing acts of Jesus grew out of His attitude of compassion and
mercy to those He ministered to daily. So if God is merciful and Jesus only did
what He saw His Father say and do, He expects His children to be His image and
to strive for the same depth of compassion.
It is
not the degree of suffering or weakness we face that moves us to a deeper place
in God. Rather it is what we allow the Father to teach us while walking through
such times that He takes note of. It will only be through our God that
our most splendid achievements will come about, often unseen and unnoticed by
others.
So at
this moment in time we must allow His presence to come sit beside us in the
peace and depth of compassion so that
we may reflect His image.
