Daily devotion – 12th July Monday 2021
You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion….abundant in mercy and truth – Psalm 86:15
What does compassion actually mean? It’s two beautiful words in Latin which mean “to suffer with.”
This describes our Lord so well in His compassion for His sheep.
Suffering sadly is the common lot of all humanity since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. We continually see on our news media the human wreckage of our world where people have been ravaged by war or famine.
We cannot help but be touched by what we view as we should be.
All around us are people who suffer in other ways: loneliness, fear, anxiety, disability, grief, addiction just to name a few.
But God has compassion on us – He suffers with us. He knows what we are going through, and He cares. The greatest act of compassion the world has seen was the cruel cross of Calvary. For it was there that Christ suffered for us all!
It was there on that cross that Jesus endured sin’s penalty so we would not have to endure it ourselves.
Jesus now calls us to have compassion on those with whom we come in contact with for His sake – to suffer with them, and to lead them to the One who suffered for them!
The Bibles says, “Be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.” – 1 Peter 3:8