Compassion Moves You to Action - Daily Devotional Janaury 14th, 2010

Daily Bible Reading - Genesis 15, Matthew 14, Nehemiah 4, Acts 14

Compassion Moves You to Action

In Matthew 14 as Jesus was trying to get alone for a bit we see that crowds of people came to Him. As they came to Him the Bible says in verse 14, "he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick." In the 11 times the Bible mentions that Jesus was moved with compassion He does a miracle because true compassion will always lead to action.

Compassion by definition is, "a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering." I have also heard it simply put that compassion is putting yourself in the position of the other person and experiencing what they are going through.

In this passage Jesus was trying to get alone to mourn the death of his cousin. The crowds though followed Jesus and when He saw them He was moved with compassion. He was specifically moved with compassion for the sick and felt their pain so much that he wanted to touch them and heal them.

This is such a powerful principle in this passage and one that we need to be reminded of daily as believers. There are so many times in life that we have our own issues and circumstances. We allow those circumstances to overcome us and we miss that there is a multitude of people in front of us that are worse off than we are. We need to look at the multitudes like Jesus did, put ourselves in their shoes and feel their pain then we will forget our own. We need to have compassion and be moved to action. Now is not the time to reflect on your own pain but now is the time to lift up your eyes and see a world who needs Jesus and be moved with compassion and step into action!

What are you looking at today, your issues or the multitudes that are waiting for you?

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Genesis 16, Matthew 15, Nehemiah 5, Acts 15

Dream Big
Ben