My favorite word?…I’ve had a few

What’s your favorite word?

As a writer, a wielder of words, I have and had many favorite words over the years. For most of my life “Justice” was an ultimate term of special meaning personally. And of course Shalom! and Love. However, lately my favorite word, and one most desperately needed in our current social climate is “compassion”.

Compassion is something beyond empathy, sympathy, tolerance or kindness even. Compassion is not passive, not simply a concept, it’s an action. It’s beyond passion because it doesn’t seek its own, it seeks the best of another above our own personal wants.

The intentionally active nature of compassion many times reaches past commonality to help, assist, relate, minister to and love on others who, many times, are not like “us” at all… the outsider, the misunderstood, the unloveable.

Compassion is one of the first words that God uses to describe himself.

“The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

And when Jesus described what compassion looks like in humanity he told this parable…

“One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭25‬-‭37‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Words matter, but actions matter more. Let’s be compassionate.

…and that’s all I have to say about that. Shalom!