“The Cost Of Compassion” is October 31’s entry from Dr. David Jeremiah’s ‘Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions’ (2014).
"When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."
Luke 15:20
“The Cost Of Compassion” is October 31’s entry from Dr. David Jeremiah’s ‘Turning Points with God: 365 Daily Devotions’ (2014).
“When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
The word sacrifice is the costliest word in the biblical lexicon, especially when it comes to the price God paid–allowing His Son to be sacrificed for our sins. Sacrifice means to offer up something of one’s own–to relinquish ownership, to give it up for a higher purpose or calling. But there is another word that has a high price attached to it, one that gets less attention than sacrifice.
The cost of compassion, while perhaps not as high as that of sacrifice, is nonetheless high–as all compassionate people can attest. Take the father of the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable in Luke 15:11-32, for instance.
When the rebellious son returned home after a period of profligate living, the father welcomed him home with compassion. What price did he pay for his compassion? How about the sleepless nights he had spent agonizing over the fate of his son? Or the forgiveness he extended? Or the large sum of money that the son had wasted in riotous living?
Compassion’s price is the loss of whatever we could be doing for ourselves instead of spending ourselves on another. Keep your compassion account balanced, ready to spend when needed.
To end, a quote from Henry Ward Beecher, “Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.”
