Compassion and Faith
Theme for the Week
Reflection By Scott Stoner
The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
- Psalm 116:5 (NIV)
Beginning today and continuing each Monday in Lent, we will introduce a theme for the week that provides a specific focus on one aspect of our overall theme of Practicing Compassion. This week we will focus on Compassion and Faith. Compassion is at the very heart of God and, therefore, of our faith. As the portion of Psalm 116 above tells us, God is gracious, righteous, and full of compassion toward all life. As people of faith, we also aspire to be people who are gracious and righteous and full of compassion toward all.
In yesterday’s reflection, as part of observing Lent, Laurie Brock invited us to fill our souls with the “nourishment of God’s healing love.” This gets to the heart of why we are focusing this week on the connection between compassion and faith. Our capacity to offer compassion to others is directly related to our ability to open ourselves to receiving God’s compassion for ourselves.
In the First Letter of John, the writer says that “God is love,” and goes on to say, “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:16,19). Rooted in God’s love and compassion, our compassion is a fruit of our faith. When we regularly fill our cups with the living water of God’s love, we are more likely to have the ability and the desire to offer that living water to others.
Making it Personal: What initial thoughts do you have about the link between faith and compassion? Do you see a connection between your relationship with God and how you’re feeling or how you have felt compassion toward others? How do the two Scripture passages in this reflection speak to you right now?