As I was preparing for tomorrow's sunday school lesson, I came to admire Jesus more than ever (impossible, right? He's ALREADY that amazing; but the incredible thing about God is that He is never dull- there's always something new to discover about him, re-discover, or another way of looking at Him).

The lesson that I will be teaching on is compassion. When I look at Matthew 14: 13-21, it's actually incredible how selfless Jesus was. And yes, I already knew how selfless Jesus was, and still is. I mean, dying on the cross, in itself, shows sacrificial love. But it was a great reminder to me, and a great example of what it really means to be a follower of Christ.

The passage starts off with Jesus on a boat, heading for a private place. He had just heard about his cousin, John the Baptist, and how he was beheaded by King Herod. Jesus was HUMAN, so he must have been very sad, considering his cousin just died. Yet, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick." (verse 14).

Think about that- he wanted to be along, and he was hurting like crazy- yet he had compassion on the large crowd, and he HEALED them. If I were to ask you honestly, would you go out of your way to help others when you're hurting? In all honesty I know that I wouldn't want to. But Jesus did. && that is just SO amazing....

let us strive to be more compassionate- because COMPASSION is what drives our actions.
The Greek Word for Compassion is Splagchnizomai, and it means: To be moved as to one’s bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and purity

Now, when you move your bowels, you have to go to the bathroom, correct? You cannot HELP it- it just happens. IN the same way, Jesus had compassion, in which you feel something that you cannot HELP but do it- it is not done willingly- it's not JUST about your emotions and feeling sorry for someone- it's just as much about doing something about it than just merely feeling pity.

Thanks, God, for the reminder to be more like Jesus :)
WWJD? :)