By Larry Rosenbaum
“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” Matt. 9:36‑38. It is interesting to study the word compassion as it appears in the Bible. In this passage, Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes leads him to instruct his disciples to pray for more laborers. In Luke 10:33, the good Samaritan had compassion on the man who had been robbed, and helped him. In Luke 15:20, the father had compassion on the prodigal son. Often, it was said that a healing or miracle was motivated by Jesus’ compassion for someone.
In Matthew 24, Jesus said, speaking of the last days, “Because iniquity shall abound, the (agape) love (of Christians) shall wax cold.” Surrounded by so much wickedness, we Christians can easily harden our hearts to those around us. I get tired of people asking me for spare change, knowing most will use it for drugs and alcohol. I don’t want to support these habits, but I do want to have compassion for these people and seek to meet their legitimate needs. When I preach, I often speak of God’s holiness and judgment, but I must always preach with a heart broken by God’s love. As hard as people’s hearts may be, I must remember that God is not willing that any should perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance. God is able to, and often does, save the hardest sinner.
In 1 Corin. 13, Paul says we can even have the faith to move mountains and give all our goods to feed the poor, yet without charity we are nothing. Jesus gave us two commandments. The first is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. The second is like unto it, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Who is my neighbor? Every one around me. If I truly love the unsaved people around me, I will do everything possible to tell them about Jesus and prevent them from suffering eternal torment in Hell.
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Are you following in the footsteps of our Lord? Is your purpose in life to seek and to save those who are lost? God, deliver us from Pharisaical religion! Give us compassion for those around us who are headed for eternal Hell without Christ!
