Daily Thought for Friday, July 15th

July 15, 2011

Sympathy and/or Compassion

Today’s Thought:

“True sympathy is the personal concern which demands the giving of one’s soul.” – Martin Lulther King, Jr.

Today’s Quotes:

“Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load.” – Charles H. Parkhurst

“The measure of love is compassion; the measure of compassion is kindness.” - Anonymous

 

Today’s Question

“What value has compassion that does not take its object in its arms?” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Today’s Bible Verses:                  1 Peter 3:8, & Jude 20-22

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference:

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“ Sympathy is not an end in itself: not mere feeling, but action, will mitigate the world’s misery, society’s injustice or the people’s alienation from God.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

To have mercy on others we must be willing to be sympathetic to their cause or needs and have compassion for their struggles and efforts, even if we think they seem to fall short or if we feel they do not concern us and that we should not need to become involved in them.  We must remember we are all part of each other and God did not call us to love just a certain few but to love all the world, just as He did when He have His son to die; and as He does even today as He desires that none should perish but that all would come to a place of repentance.

When I think of our roles in having sympathy and compassion, as Christians, for others, I think of the Story of Good Samaritan.  We need to be the ‘Good Samaritan’ in our world.

“We are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only and initial act.  One day the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be beaten and robbed as they make heir journey through life.  True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that and edifice the produces beggars needs restructuring.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We need to be Gods laborers to facilitate the restructuring that needs to take place.  Jim Wallis wrote, “It is the experience of touching the pain of others that is the key to change.  Compassion is a sign of transformation.”

“The more you join with people in their joys and their sorrows, the more nearer and dearer they come to be to you.” – Mark Twain  (from ‘Tom Sawyer Abroad’)   And when it gets to where the ‘rubber meets the road’ isn’t that what being a Christians is really all about:  Having compassion; being sympathetic; extending forgiveness and mercy; and simply loving one another?

Today’s Prayer:

Father, help me not only grasp, understand and realize that sympathy and compassion are not a sign of weakness; but rather they are attributes of godliness, and may they be behaviors that are prevalent in my daily life.