“You may call God love, you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion.”
-Meister Eckhart
I may not have any solid conclusions about compassion, but here is what I think-I would even go so far as to say that compassion in its purest and truest form comes straight from God, and (at best) we as people will never see compassion in that way until it comes from Him through us.
1. The Enemy.
He has, quite fantastically, taken the action out of the definition of feelings in general, and especially out of compassion.
Lack of action = confusion, which is what he is best at.
Confusion causes us to lose sight of what to do, and we start asking ourselves, “If compassion isn’t defined as an action, then it becomes a thing… and what do we do with this thing that makes us so comfortable in the first place?”
2. Us.
While the enemy has taken action out of the definition, we have allowed it.
We haven’t fought back – if anything, we have allowed it to become our definition.
Why?
Because we would much rather be comfortable than take a leap of faith and do something.
Doing something takes courage, and strength, and in our desire to be comfortable… strength and courage are the first to walk out the door.
Two vital components in the fight, and we turn our backs on them.
In doing so, we have helped our sworn enemy tie our hands while the rest of the world sits in anticipation of when we are going to cut the rope.
When are we going to cut the rope?
When are we going to let ourselves walk freely?
And when are we going to get over ourselves and let God move in us to share the compassion that set us free with everyone else who is waiting for it?
I write this as a chief offender, because I am telling myself this moreso than I am telling you.
There is no counting the number of times when God has called me to compassion, and I have turned my back.
I don’t share that because I think the time I spent ignoring that call was wasted…
In fact, I would say the opposite.
The time is being used for some purpose because God is compassionate and longs to redeem it is redeeming it-
Just like He longs to redeem it for you, too.
If there is one thing I could encourage you with – it is that God is the ultimate redeemer.
And know that just because you have not stepped out in compassion in the past does not mean you are incapable of it, period.
God wants to see you take a step out in faith and trust that He will provide what you need.
So let’s take that leap together, and see where it lands us.
