If God Is "I AM", then Who Am 1? - Day 11

Day 11 – 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.¹ 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.² 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.

SELF-REFLECT

1. Compassion is more than sympathy

     (feeling sorry for another) or empathy

     (feeling another’s pain). Why?

 

2. Recall two acts of compassion rendered

     by you recently.

 

3. Recall two acts of compassion rendered

     for you recently.

 

4. The Bible repeats over and over that

    God has compassion for you. How has

     God acted in your behalf?

 

5. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s

    compassion toward you and a prayer of

     commitment to be more compassionate

     toward others.

 

¹Matthew 9:46, 14:14, 15:32, 18:27, 20:34;

  Mark 1:41, 6:34, 8:22, 9:22;

  Luke 7:13, 10:33, 15:20.

²Psalm 86:15 and 103:13 are two verses that use rachamim

Daily Quotation

Earl Palmer, Laughter in Heaven (Waco: Word, 1987), 100.