Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining a good friend of mine and a group of  20+ retired adults in their bible study at their apartment complex, Saint Therese at Oxbow Lake.  As we entered their small chapel, I saw a look of anticipation on the faces of the members of this group.  But not long after arriving did I find out why as I watched my friend great each of these precious people with a loving embrace and kind words.  He made sure that not one person missed a hug.

I witnessed their faces light up as he dramatically shared about Jesus with them, later explaining to me that he had to be dramatic or some would fall asleep.  There was a lady sitting next to my friend who was used as an example and received many hugs while my friend shared about Jesus.  To watch her face and hear her giggles, and those of her husband that sat next to her, was a gift.  Each time she was embraced she seemed to hold on so tight as to never want to be let go.

The time my friend spent sharing about Jesus and praying for there needs was not long but the affects of our time spent together could easily last throughout each persons month, including myself.  At the conclusion of this short time together, my friend again gave a hug to each as he said his goodbyes.

While reading the bible that morning I came across the story of Jesus raising the widow’s son.  Crowds had been following Jesus around asking for healing and other help. Jesus saw a funeral procession that was coming out as they approached a village.

The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion.“Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. -Luke 7:12-15 (NLT)

Jesus sees this widow and his heart overflowed with compassion.  He was busy with a crowd but he was moved to help this hurting woman.  She didn’t ask for help nor did anyone urge Jesus to get involved with her situation. His heart overflowed with compassion.  He has this same heart for you and me.  When he sees you hurting his heart is overflowed with compassion for you.

My friend has a heart overflowed with compassion for each person who attends his monthly bible study.  He is not getting any personal gain out of this experience but I have now seen the look in the eyes of those he loves on.  I was able to feel a piece of the compassion he has for his friends at Saint Therese.  Just as each of us can rest with the assurance that Jesus has an immense compassion for us, we should also look for ways to exercise this same compassion on others.  You don’t have to look to hard to find people in need and that need might just be a smile, loving hug, and kind words.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 10:43 am and is filed under Compassion, Grace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.