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Christlike Compassion

Jesus cares about you.


You.


Holistically.


Spiritually first, but your body, your emotional and mental state is important to Jesus. He came to reconcile us to the Father through His sacrifice, yes, and yet He chose to live out a human existence.


Why?


So that when you tell Him that you're worried about your next meal, He can show you that He's always had a plan to feed you.


A significant portion of Jesus' recorded earthly ministry is Him healing the physical ailments of those who asked and those He came across in His journeys. And all of His miracles were to bring glory to the Father while they met the needs of those who needed help, which Christ gave to them supernaturally.


In Matthew 15:29-38, we find the miracle of Jesus feeding the 4,000. Every sermon that I can remember focuses on the miracle of taking the seven loaves and the few small fish and feeding 4,000 not including woman and children - with seven baskets of leftovers. Once again Jesus supernaturally and generously exceeds any expectation of what He can do.


Yet, I think we overlook an incredibly important part of what happens here.


In verse 32 Jesus is quoted saying:


"... I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way."


The Greek word for compassion has this literal translation "to be moved as to one's bowels" (the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity (via The Blue Letter Bible)). Jesus literally felt so strongly for those that were following Him that He felt it in His gut. He realized that the people had been following Him for three days and hadn't had adequate sustenance. He was worried that they were going to pass out, so He fed them. His disciples were set to send them away so that they could figure that out themselves, but Jesus was capable of feeding them in that moment, so He did.


This is what it means to be compassionate like Christ. It means that you see your brother or your sister has a need, so you are moved to act to help by the means that you have.


God has given each of us means to meet the needs of someone else. Whether that be a word of encouragement, a website link to resources, $5 to buy a lunch, a business to employ someone, a listening ear or a hug, God has equipped us with what we need to act on the compassion we feel for our brothers and sisters in this world.


To be like Christ, is to follow His example and do the work that helps those in need to the glory and edification of our Father.


 

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