compassion

When a person feels from his or her very center of physical being a strong awareness of caring identification toward another human being, that caring is called “compassion”.  –EARL F. PALMER

Let's start today with a short anatomy lesson. The internal organs of the human abdomen have a unique nerve supply, the splanchnic nerves, which carry impulses to and from the liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestine, colon, kidneys, and spleen. Visceral pain is perceived through these nerves. A patient with acute appendicitis, for example, experiences discomfort in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen via the splanchnic system. Likewise, we sense through these fibers gastric burning, intestinal cramping, and gallbladder colic. The splanchnic nerves thus send a signal to us about what is going on in our gut.

The Greek word for compassion is splanchnizomai, found twelve times in the New Testament. It is derived from the Greek word for bowels or intestines. Compassion, then, is not superficial emotion nor sentimental attachment. It is love at the gut level. Similarly, the Hebrew word that is often translated compassion is rachamim, found 131 times in the Old Testament. It comes from the root word rechem, meaning womb or uterus. In this context, compassion is similar to a mother's feeling for a child in her womb.

Splanchnizomai in the New Testament is a verb. It is always accompanied by action. The Good Samaritan, Jesus said, "showed compassion." His was an active, inside-out type of love.

Is your love deep enough to be deemed compassionate? Is it gut level, not just skin deep? If not, your love is something less than compassion.

                                                          -If God Is "I AM", then Who Am I? (Day 11)