Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. - 1 John 3:16-20 (KJV)What does it mean to have compassion to others? If we do not have compassion for others, "how can the love of God be in [us]?" (NIV). Isn't the "love of God in us" what makes us different? Last semester, I went to ACF's last large group on spiritual gifts (quite cool and interactive) and they had a station that helps determine possible spiritual gifts. My "top" gift ended up being compassion, but I can't see it as a gift. Compassion is a trait, I think, that stems from the "love of God in [us]."
NIV uses the word "pity" in v.17, but there's more to compassion than pity. When you pity others, you feel sorry for them. It brings them down, when we should be lifting them up and it does nothing to "help" them. Compassion brings hope to the situation. It's feeling the pain others feel (very hard thing to do if we've never had the same experience) and doing something about it. Etymology!!! from OED.
compati (ppl. stem compass-) to suffer together with, feel pity, f. com- together with + pati to suffer.
