Devotion

This past Sunday, Pastor Paul shared that the future of the human race might depend on
our capacity for compassion. Conflicts and disagreements are always going to be part of
our culture. When they happen are we going to respond with judgment and hate or will we
respond with compassion and love?
No war has ever been fought or declared by leaders whose heart was led by compassion.
Can you see what is at stake? Compassion is a quality that we must cultivate. We can do
this through prayer, Bible reading, and worship. As you read this devotion this week,
concentrate and pray that you will grow in compassion.
Comments about the devotion can be E-mailed to Pastor Paul at pastor@colpres.org.

Monday, May 18
Read Deuteronomy 30:1-4
Many times people think that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the
New Testament. This could not be further from the truth. In the Old Testament God often
shares gentleness, love, mercy and compassion.
In this passage Moses is giving instructions to the Israelites as they prepare to cross the
Jordan River into the Promised Land. Moses wanted to assure the people that as they go
into this new place that God would have compassion on them.
When we go deep into God we will experience compassion.
Take a moment to write down five qualities of God. How would you define God? Hopefully
compassion made your list. Throughout the Scriptures God is described as compassionate.
As you pray today, praise God for compassion!

Tuesday, May 19
Read Psalm 103:6-14
The last two verses of this reading give us insight into how to live with compassion.
As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear
him. For God knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.
God knows every part of us. God knows all of our strengths and all of the beauty of our
spirit. And God knows all of our weaknesses and crap.
God looks at all of this and responds with compassion. God responds with compassion
because he knows how we were made. God knows how fragile our lives are. God shares
compassion.
When we know other peoples foibles, faults, and sins we can respond in one of two ways.
We can judge them and criticize them for their weakness. This is often how our culture
encourages us to respond.
Or we can respond with compassion. We can have empathy for the other person. We can
see the fragility of the persons life.

How do you respond to weakness? With judgment or compassion. Spend some time
talking to God about this.

Wednesday, May 20
Read Mark 6:30-34
In this story, Jesus had wanted to get away with his disciples. Jesus had just learned the
horrible details of his cousin, Johns death. He needed some time to process this death with
his favorite people.
The crowds wouldnt let Jesus have this time to himself. They wanted to be with them.
Jesus could have responded with judgment on the crowd. He could have thought about his
own personal needs and the pain he was experiencing because of Johns death.
Instead he responded with compassion. Mark shared why Jesus responded with
compassion. he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. Mark 6:34
Jesus saw the weaknesses of the crowd. His heart went out to them. His heart was full of
compassion.
See if you can put on this type of lens as you view the world. When you see people who are
struggling and suffering see if you can look at them with compassion. Even if they dont
deserve compassion, still share it with them

Thursday, May 21
Read Luke 7:11-17
When we experience compassion we enter into the suffering of the person we are
witnessing. We dont stay at arms-length. We can almost feel the pain that the other
person is experiencing.
We can see Jesus entering into the suffering of the widow in this story. This woman had
lost her husband and now had lost her son. The pain, separation and grief as very high.
Jesus knew that. He entered into her suffering. He felt compassion.
When we experience compassion we are ready to help the person who is suffering. Jesus
certainly helped the woman. He brought back the son to life.
We dont have these powers, but we can do amazing things for people when we experience
compassion. When our heart is pricked by another persons suffering our motivation to help
is at its highest level.
Sometimes we need to pray that our hearts will be touched in this deep way. As you pray
today, pray that your heart will be touched by the pain that you see.

Friday, May 22
Read Luke 15:11-32
When the father in the story saw his son come back he experienced compassion. This is a
pivotal part of this story.

The fathers compassion wasnt earned by the younger son. The younger son had disgraced
his father when the son asked for his inheritance and then spent it in dissolute living.
But compassion is not something that another person earns. By the worlds standards
compassion is not fair. Compassion is full of grace. When the father saw his son come back
he was full of grace. He wanted to help; he wanted to have a party; he wanted to
celebrate.

Saturday, May 23
Read Colossians 3:12-17
The five qualities shared in verse 12 represent hope for the world. If every person in the
world would experience them and share them our world would be a much more peaceful
place.
Those five qualities are: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience.
As you pray today, pray that these qualities can be embraced by our world. Specifically
pray for the people close to you. Pray that these loved ones of yours will embrace these
five qualities.