LIVING LIKE JESUS: Showing Compassion

Sympathy means feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is trying to put oneself in another’s place. Compassion is a much deeper feeling of concern for and desire to help the person. Compassion is a deeply felt emotion that results from seeing pain or suffering in another person. The concept of compassion is conveyed by several different words in the Old Testament and New Testament. These words are often translated as compassion or compassionate, as well as mercy, merciful, or pity.

God is described in various places in the Bible as being compassionate or having compassion, but it is in Jesus, His Son, that compassion was personified. We see this especially when He reached out and touched the man with leprosy. Jesus is our example and as we begin to live like Jesus, we will also begin to see the needs of others and reach out to them in compassion as He did.

Jeff