“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” Exodus 2:23-25 (ESV)
God is passionate about His creation. His passion is consistently evidenced by His compassion in action. God saw the Israelites in their desperation and seized the opportunity to reveal Himself to them and to respond to their need.
People matter to God. You can trace God’s redemptive activity throughout the entire Bible from cover to cover. He passionately pursues fallen humanity in order to bring reconciliation and restoration. God’s endless love is portrayed intimately in His patience with us and in His passion for us. We matter to Him!
We experience God’s compassion in action through the salvation of our souls. The redemptive act of God in Christ on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s compassion. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8 ESV). We are the recipients of the bountiful compassion of God.
How will we relay God’s compassion on earth? Now that we have been perpetually and eternally blessed by God’s compassion, what should our response entail? We have received God’s compassion so that we can extend God’s compassion to others. God invites us to participate with Him in His redemptive activity.
Whenever you have difficulty putting compassion into action, consider the depth of compassion God has extended to you. God is not asking you to do anything He has not already done for you.
Drawing Near,
Stephen Trammell
Lead Pastor
Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell