What has made you a compassionate person ?

Question

I am rethinking some of the views I have had and I am praying that God makes me more compassionate, I used to be very predudice about single mothers and had my misgivings but God has been showing me all Gods children are in need of love and mercy. My sister has said you don't know the whole story about what they have gone through. What has made you a more compassionate person to people who have had issues with? I am asking this question so I can be a betyter witness and a light for the Lord. Thank you and God bless you.

Answer 1

I think I am a more compassionate person than some other people because I have suffered more than others-I've had health problems since I was born and have been in and out of the hospital a lot. I'm in my early twenties and most people don't know that I have had an open heart surgery when I was a baby until I tell them. There's a nice quote that says, "You can't have a light without a dark to put it in," which means you can't really know what a person has gone through unless you experience it yourself.

Answer 2

I too have struggled with being more compassionate. I was attacked by a Hispanic male in broad daylight while running with my 11 month old in a jogger. I started hating all Hispanics. It was hard. Especially with all the illegal immigration issues out there I found myself saying to fry them all. It was pitiful. What helped me was to think of Jesus and how He treated everyone. He dealt with so many who were so lost in their ways, but what I discovered was He was straight forward with the way he confronted people. Take the story of the woman at the well. Jesus knew everything about her. It didn't matter that she had done wrong in the past and that she was living in sin with another man. He was matter of fact about her situation and she was taken aback by his love and compassion even though she sinned. I was finding it hard to have compassion toward those who do wrong simply for their own self gain, but I know now that I can hate the sin, but not the person. Remember that. Jesus said "forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do." Well, I keep reminding myself of how Jesus was so merciful even when wrong was being done to Him. Don't get me wrong. It's okay to get angry over a situation that you know is wrong. It's okay to take action against the situation because it's the sin you are attacking, not the person. Your sister was right in telling you in a roundabout way to put yourself in others shoes. Keep reading the Bible. Talk to other Christians and you will be lead in the right direction according to God. God bless!

Answer 3

by experiencing a lot of pain in my own life,i have an enormous capacity for empathy and compassion towards other people.
i think you have to experience certain things,in order to empathize with others.you have to go through some kind of pain,so you can understand where other people are coming from.
the best way to show God's love,is to be kind,helpful,non-judgmental,and understanding.and be a friend.the gift of friendship is a priceless gift,one that can lead to really great things.through the gift of your friendship,you can help others get to know Jesus.and that is the very best gift of all.

Answer 4

Marriage. I internalized a lot of my husband's personal issues when we got married. I felt the pain of a judgmental and controlling family. I began to realize that people everywhere deal with emotional issues that go far deeper than my own experience. Before, I thought everyone either chose to be happy and successful or chose to be unhappy and failures. I have learned that a person's support system, or lack thereof, is critical to self esteem and self-empowerment over one's life. That isn't something we choose early in life.

Answer 5

Wow, this has engaged some of the best answers I've seen on here IMO.

For me it was the fact that my whole childhood I felt alone, and completely cut off from all possibility of being understood.

Thank God for this! Because of this, when I grew to maturity, and took on the responsibility to really be who I thought I should be, and prayed, and worked for nothing but understand the real nature of Truth. I found this to be impossible, but this is the cause for unlimited range of hope. Then I found God, and the loving other others were all my aspirations, and all else was merely selfish lies!

I may have not always kept up to the high standards this requires, as I have not always stood firm in all tests, I do know this is the whole truth.

"22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

(King James Bible, Matthew)

God bless.

"Another asked why the teachings of all religions are expressed largely by parables and metaphors and not in the plain language of the people.

'Abdu'l-Bahá replied: -- "Divine things are too deep to be expressed by common words. The heavenly teachings are expressed in parable in order to be understood and preserved for ages to come. When the spiritually minded dive deeply into the ocean of their meaning they bring to the surface the pearls of their inner significance. There is no greater pleasure than to study God's Word with a spiritual mind."

"The object of God's teaching to man is that man may know himself in order to comprehend the greatness of God. The Word of God is for agreement and concord...." for it is said by Bahá'u'lláh 'Ye are all the rays of one sun; the fruits of one tree; and the leaves of one branch.' We desire the true brotherhood of humanity. This shall be so, and it has already begun. Praise to be God, the Helper, the Pardoner!""

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 79)

Answer 6

I learned compassion by doing exactly as your sister said-I put myself in the other person's shoes and tried to understand how I might feel or act in the same situation.

There is more than one way to face any situation handed to you, so you have to consider all sides. It takes time to learn this and it doesn't happen overnight, but it eventually comes very easily and naturally.

Answer 7

Once upon a time, i wanted to kill people off in order to save the planet....When i asked God's blessings on my death he left me standing there.....alive, and wondering why........Then, as "nothing", i tried to see people as God does, with all their pain and confusion at this world, and realized if i had no other purpose than to alleviate the sadness and maybe point at least one in the right direction then, my whole existance might be worth it...in the scheme of "forever".....................I hope, even on here, i've given someone, somewhere, a chuckle or two...........(not with this answer of course!!)

Answer 8

Just taking the time to look at the situation through others eyes and to see their struggles. If you experience the pain of noncompassion than it also is incentive to not want to inflict it on others. I meditate and sometimes reflecting on the root causes of situations or problems in relationships helps.

Answer 9

Misfortune, aka bad luck, makes people be easier and more understanding of their brothers and sisters on this planet. Show me the kind of PERSON who gives out with a lot of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" platitudes to people who don't even have any boots, and I'll show you a person who has never had a bit of serious trouble enter their life.

Answer 10

I have to be able to understand someone before I can truly show compassion. While I'm trying to understand, I try to be respectful and listen very carefully to how and why they think and behave differently from me. We each live our own life on different paths, but ultimately we all want to be on the same path :)