Stronger Compassion
by Gary Johnson
I recently had my annual eye exam, and the good news is that my vision hasn’t changed for the worse even as I continue to grow older. Years ago, I was diagnosed with visual myopia, more commonly referred to as being near-sighted. I can see objects close to me without any problem, but when it comes to seeing objects further from me, that’s another story. I wear glasses with corrective lens that enable me to read signs or see objects a distance away. So, all is good – or so I thought.
I have another form of myopia and it is spiritual. Perhaps you struggle with the same. Come to think of it, I believe that the majority of Christians can be diagnosed with spiritual myopia by the Great Physician Himself.
Spiritual myopia is a condition of being near-sighted, looking at life as it matters only to us. Life is about our wants and needs, about our problems and challenges, about our happiness and joy. We struggle to see beyond an area that encircles our immediate family and closest of friends. Spiritual near-sightedness is selfish in nature and attitude and is certainly in need of correction (at least in my life).
"When [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion on them for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus did NOT struggle with spiritual myopia. He saw beyond Himself to the needs of others. The word “compassion” is used a bit more than a dozen times in the New Testament, and the majority of those times, it’s about Jesus.
The word means “bowels” or guts (in our more contemporary vocabulary). Hence, when Jesus saw hurting people around Him and at a distance, feelings came welling up from deep within Him – from His guts – and those feelings were of compassion. When someone passes away, it is common for us to send a sympathy card or flowers, etc. Sympathy is an expression that we acknowledge someone’s loss. Yet, when we take food to that family, when we care for their house and yard during their grieving, etc., these actions are an expression of our empathy. Empathy is an expression of our compassion. We attempt to feel their loss, putting their hurt on our heart.
Perhaps Jesus was able to express compassion because He had a different diagnosis, one that I refer to as a divine arrythmia. Remember hearing of someone with an “arrythmia?” This word means to have an irregular heartbeat, and Jesus certainly had a holy, divine heart that did indeed beat in a most irregular way for broken, lost people that included each of us.
In Acts 10:38, Peter described the ministry of Jesus: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.“ Think about that. Jesus went around doing good. He went from place to place having compassion on broken people, and He did so in the power of the Holy Spirit.
For me – and perhaps for you – the Spirit is how we “correct” our spiritual myopia. We have the Spirit. We received Him when we were immersed (Acts 2:38). In that moment, a Holy “roommate” moved in with us (1 Cor. 6:19-20). This roommate is no different from those in college, etc., in that we do not always get along with the Holy Spirit. Though we have Him, HE does not always have us! We do not yield to Him, particularly when He wants to empower us to help those who need compassion.
We have been made in His image (Gen 1:26-27), and we should look like, should resemble Jesus. Actually, we are told that “whoever claims to live in Him, must live as Jesus lived” (1 John 2:6). That reads “must,” not should or could or perhaps. When we claim to be Christians, we are commanded to live as Jesus lived—and that would be to show compassion to those both near to and far from us.
We can practice, show, offer a strong compassion in the strong presence of the Spirit of Jesus in us.
I need that correction in my vision.
