Compassion and Truth
I have noticed that our culture today quickly criticizes Christians who have a conviction about truth. There is this thought that you cannot be full of compassion and conviction at the same time. Yet, when I look at Jesus and his actions toward others, he was full of compassion and truth. Take a look at Mark 6:34: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” This crowd of 5,000 goes on in the text to be fed miraculously by Jesus. His compassion moved him to teach and feed.
In Mark 1:40-45, Jesus is filled with compassion. He reaches out and touches the Leper—healing him. Jesus then directed him to obey the truth of the law: to himself, to the priest, and to offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for his cleansing as a testimony to them.
Unfortunately, after receiving the healing, he did not observe the truth Jesus gave him and it changed the plans of Jesus. Jesus used this situation to continue to teach, as well as heal. He knew people came to him for healing, and he met their needs. Yet he never lost focus of their greatest need, the forgiveness of their sin. When healing the cripple in Mark 2, Jesus first forgave him of his sins and then healed his crippled legs. Which was the greater need?
Forgiveness is greater than healing. It is better to be crippled on earth and dance in heaven than to be dancing on earth and miss eternity with God. This man received the blessing of healing of legs and soul the same day. What a blessing he received—that was in turn used to teach more people that Jesus was God and had the authority to forgive sin.
Hurricane Ida recently hit our state of Louisiana, and I appreciate the compassion shown to our people and praise God. One Kingdom wants to not only meet the physical needs of this event, but also to look for the opportunity to teach the truth of Jesus to people who can also find eternity with God. Our local church, through Celebrate Recovery, has great compassion for those crippled by addiction in our community. At the same time, they understand the greatest need is to be forgiven for the sin that has crippled the soul. Their greatest need is Jesus.
Conviction of truth should never stop one from being compassionate to others. Just remember that when you follow Jesus, the world will say all kinds of things against you. Jesus said in Matthew 5:11, “ Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”
My conviction concerning abortion doesn’t keep me from being full of compassion for those crippled by this act. My conviction of truth on immorality, homosexuality, etc. doesn’t keep me from being full of compassion for people. After all, I have been immoral and continue to fight the flesh myself by the grace of God. Proclaiming your conviction of truth without showing compassion and love will lead you quickly to hatred and bitterness toward sinners instead of compassion and love. Remember, we are all broken and crippled people with the same need to be saved by the blood of Christ. Our Father is full of compassion and truth, and He wants us to be the same as image-bearers.