Building Compassion

You know the person. Within minutes of conversation it is obvious that they don’t like you and probably reject everything you stand for.

Sometimes this person becomes an enemy, and sometimes a friend. However, there is a part of each of us that looks to connect with others who hold our same values and social rules. Those who don’t, tend to hurt our feelings and those relationships aren’t easy.

We like easy. We often determine that those who aren’t easy are mean or somehow evil.

Sometimes, even in the church, two people who love Jesus can have such differing backgrounds that a common ground of social rules seems impossible.

It occurred to me this last week just how much compassion Jesus has for us. In that moment on the cross where He cried out ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me,’ He knew what it is like for people who don’t know God. On the road to the cross where people cheered and the jeers, where friends betrayed and those in power abused Him, He felt our daily struggle. Yet He was able to walk in love and forgiveness. Can you imagine His compassion for us as we see life so linearly? We can’t see the whole of someone’s life and understand their perspective. We can’t even understand what their words mean in their context without help.

I wonder how often I assumed hurt where none was intended, or where I caused hurt when I only meant support.

My life prayer is that I will see others and myself as Jesus does. The Bible says that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us. That is the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit fills us, teaching, guiding, and correcting us, He will show us His perspective and change our tendency for defensiveness to compassion, wisdom and insight.