Recently, my husband and I were visiting family in California. We always go on an early morning walk, and one morning we were walking toward a busy multi-lane street that we wanted to cross.
We were getting close when the walk sign came on and I realized we wouldn’t make it in time for this light and would have to wait for the next one. As we walked, I watched an elderly couple step into the crosswalk and come toward us.
The man was in a wheelchair and the woman pushing him wasn’t much taller than the chair. They made their way across as the walk sign began the countdown, and I wasn’t sure they would make it in time.
When they were most of the way across, there was a crack in the pavement where two sections of pavement didn’t meet. The front wheels of the wheelchair fell in that crack and got stuck. The tiny woman tried to get it free. The man attempted to stand and help her but fell back in the chair. And the timer was ticking down to zero.
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines compassion as, “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress with a desire to alleviate it.”
Compassion isn’t just being sympathetic toward someone’s situation, it is also the desire to help them out. To ease their burden. To watch for ways to step in and aid someone who is in distress for whatever reason.
When I was a new Christian, I had a dream one night—a very vivid dream. It ended with the voice of God saying to me, “You must have compassion.” I still remember that dream and those words and the weight they carried. I had to take them seriously.
At that time, I didn’t even understand what it meant to be compassionate. I had to look up the definition and then try to figure out what God meant by impressing on me the need to alleviate others’ suffering.
Sometimes, helping others is automatic. When we have a friend or a family member who needs assistance, we are quick to step in and offer assistance. If someone from church is in need, we will also willingly give what they require. But often this in contingent on the timing being convenient for us.
“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.”
(Micah 7:18-19 ESV)
God is the great example of showing compassion. Despite all that we’ve done wrong and still do wrong, when we ask Him, He will tread those things under His feet. They will be wiped away.
We must follow His example in extending grace to others and show a willingness to meet their needs no matter where they are. Sometimes, that is uncomfortable. Sometimes it is inconvenient. And sometimes we just don’t want to do what He asks us to do, or to help the person who is in need.
Yet, as we practice compassion, the act becomes easier. We begin to see the trials of others even when they try to hide them. Showing mercy or grace becomes an automatic gesture.
I like to think God’s grace is automatic. When we ask His forgiveness with a broken heart, He is quick to forgive and to wipe away our sins. That doesn’t mean we don’t face consequences for what we’ve done, but we have been forgiven because of God’s compassion.
When my husband and I saw that wheelchair get stuck in the crack and the struggles of the older couple to get free and out of the road, we didn’t stop and discuss what should be done. We didn’t turn and go the other way. In fact, we didn’t even look at each other or say a word. We just walked out into that street and each grabbed one side of the wheelchair and lifted it free, helping the couple across the street in time for traffic to resume.
Just as God sees our needs and reaches out, we must reach out to others, extending the hand of Jesus to them.
