Grace Leads to Compassion

One of the things that flows out of grace is compassion. Compassion is sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. The word compassion in the New Testament means to be moved as to one’s bowels. The bowels were seen as the seat of love and pity.

In Matthew 14 Jesus is told about Herod executing John the Baptist. Jesus then withdraws to a desolate place. He is not doing this out of fear but Jesus is following the Father’s schedule and it was not time to die, so he withdrew to avoid any attempt of Herod to try and arrest Him.

In Matthew 14:13 it says that even when Jesus withdrew, the crowds followed Him.

Matthew 14:14 says when Jesus went ashore, He saw a great crowd and He had compassion on them. Then it says that He healed their sick.

Compassion that flows out of the grace of Jesus leads to healing.

Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

Jesus’ compassion does not just feel bad about our illnesses, including sin, but He alleviates them. Jesus is not reluctant to heal our physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses.

Jesus is the healer.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing healing through the grace of Jesus.

The crowd stays out in the desolate place with Jesus for many hours. Jesus’ compassion led Him to be concerned about them not having any food. When His disciples come to Him and tell Him to send the people away so they can get food, Jesus tells the disciples to give them something to eat.

The disciples’ response is that they don’t have enough food to even begin to feed all the people. Jesus tells the disciples to bring Him what food they have.

Jesus has the crowd sit down. He takes the five loaves and two fish and thanks the Father for them and then breaks the food and gives it to the disciples and the disciples distribute them to the crowd.

When the people had eaten and were satisfied, the disciples took up twelve basketfuls of leftovers.

Jesus feed five thousand men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus’ compassion led Him to meet the people’s need for food.

Jesus is the provider.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the provision of Jesus through His grace.

Jesus’ grace is unlimited. No matter what healing is needed, Jesus can do it. No matter what the need is, Jesus can provide.

When Mary didn’t understand how she, a virgin, could conceive a child and when the disciples didn’t understand how it was hard, even impossible, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus gave the same answer – With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Jesus’ grace gives us humanly impossible results.

Through Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls

                                          Joe