The word compassion comes from two latin words, suffer, and with. To show compassion means to suffer with someone, to enter into a person's situation and become involved in that person's suffering. Two aspects: 1) heart 2) hands. It is both the emotion experienced when a person is moved by the suffering of others, and the act of entering into the suffering of another person with the purpose of relieving it. EMOTION MUST LEAD TO ACTION.
Mark 1:41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed." ...In this verse it leterally means moved in his intestines, deeply stirred, an inward, gut reaction to this leper. By touching him, (an act that, by Mosiac law, brought defilement) showed that Jesus' compassion for the man superseded ceremonial considerations. Every move of His entire ministry was a move of love, in whatever form. His intensity of love for each person is as if they were the only person in all the world.
Time after time I have seen people healed, not only through direct prayer, but simply because of the love for one another. God seems pleased to work in a climate of love.
Jesus said as lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold. Also that they would know we are Christians by our love. The 2 greatest commandments that Jesus left us with (Mark 12:30-31) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. There is no other commandment GREATER than THESE!
In Psalms 136 There are 26 verses that repeat: HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.
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