A couple of years ago at Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) in Bloomsburg, PA, where I was a mentor mom, we talked about awareness of and compassion for others. I offered to do a short devotion at the beginning of one of our monthly meetings where we were talking about the subject. After thinking and praying about it a lot, my devotion went something like this…
Compassion is one of those ideals that is easy to brush off. We think we know what compassion means. We think we know what it looks like. Maybe we do. Maybe we’ve been fortunate enough to experience it.
I usually begin studying a concept by looking it up in the dictionary. So, I looked up “compassion.” The definition says compassion is “concern for the suffering and misfortune of others.” From that definition, I started thinking about Philippians 2:1-8.
Philippians is a book of the Bible in the New Testament which was mostly written about the life of Jesus and about the church that Jesus started. Philippians was written by a man named Paul. Paul at one point had been not only anti-Christian, but he had been aggressively and violently anti-all-things-Jesus.
Then, Jesus dramatically saved Paul from all that. Paul was never the same again. He even became a missionary where he traveled around to parts of Europe and Asia and started churches. On his second missionary journey he went to what is now Greece to a town called Philippi. He was warmly welcomed, and a church was started. Paul taught the Philippians everything he knew, fathering them in their new way of life. Things went smoothly for Paul, which wasn’t always the case. So, this church held a special place in his heart.
Paul was probably in Rome when he wrote this letter to the Philippians, and he was probably in prison. When the church at Philippi heard about Paul’s predicament, they sent him a gift. Paul wrote a thank you note to the church in Philippi for that gift, cause his momma raised him right. The book of Philippians is Paul’s thank you note to the church in Philippi. He tells them how he’s doing and, like any good “dad,” he takes the opportunity to teach a little.
In the second chapter of Philippians in verses 1 and 2 Paul says,
“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.”
Here he basically says, “If our time together, if our relationship, means anything to you, then you need to act right. Y’all get along and work as a team. That’s what I taught you to do, and I hope that’s what you’re doing now.”
Then, in verses 3 and 4 Paul says,
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Here Jesus says don’t look out for yourself alone, don’t act like you don’t see a friend or a stranger struggling. Take your eyes off yourself, look out there and think of them before you think of yourself.
My husband, Bobby, and I often quoted verses 3 and 4 to our children. “Each of you should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” We just hoped the boys would love each other. We hoped and prayed they would get along and be good friends. I still hope and pray for that. But I want them to be so confident in their relationship with each other, so confident that God knows them and loves them completely, that they’re free and willing and eager to take care of other people.
In verses 5-8 Paul says,
“You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privilege; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Paul gives us the example of Jesus. He says Jesus had more reason than anyone ever to say “no thank you” to being humble. He was GOD. But He didn’t grab that identity, He didn’t insist that everyone honor him and bow down. He humbled himself to being born as a human baby in a stable and He humbled himself to dying like a criminal.
Paul is basically saying, “If Jesus was able to look out for us first even as he died, then you should be able to tell a friend that she still has a curler in her hair. Or, if Jesus could come to this messed up world to save us, giving up Paradise for a time, then surely you can realize that the family down the street who just got a positive COVID test needs those pizzas in your freezer more than you do.”
One day when my twin boys were about two or three, I had the rare opportunity to take just one of them to Costco. I put Allen in the buggy, and we cruised around the store, picking up the things we needed, and having fun together. When you have twins there’s not much one-on-one time. We paid for our things and headed to the exit. When we got close to the door one of the Costco workers who was checking receipts stopped us. He checked over our cart and then asked Allen if he wanted a sucker. Allen looked at me to make sure it was ok, and I said yes. Pleased with his sucker, Allen looked at me again and I gave him the standard mom reminder to be thankful, “Allen, what do you say?” Sweet, innocent Allen looked at the man who had given him the sucker, held out his hand and said, “I have a brother.”
I think that’s kind of how compassion is supposed to look. God doesn’t tell us in Philippians to look out ONLY for the interests of others. He says to look out ALSO for the interests of others.
So, absolutely, say “thank you” for the gifts you’ve been given. But don’t be afraid to say to God or to the world, “You know what? I have a brother.”
I love y’all. I want you to know you’re doing a great job. If you made it out of the house today and you and your children have some sort of clothing on and ate a little something for breakfast (whether it was fruit and yogurt or leftover pizza) you have already won. It is already a good day. If you don’t do anything else today but hug your children and tell them you love them and hug your husband and tell him you’re proud of him and you love him too, you have had a great day.
Now, go love your brother.
