JANUARY 26 • TRUE LEADERSHIP
Compassion
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience… Colossians 3:12
According to author A.W. Tozer, “the goodness of God disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.”
Now replace God in that with us, or the leader, and reread it… “As leaders we need to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. We should be tenderhearted and of quick sympathy, and our unfailing attitude toward all moral beings should be open, frank, and friendly. As well, we should bestow blessedness and take great pleasure in the happiness of our people.”
The NT Greek word is σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai) — which means to be moved (to compassion) in the innermost parts. Meaning from the depths of your core — your heart (actually, back then they thought it came from your “bowels” which was believed to be the center of love and pity — but has been moved to the heart. But I digress…). The Latin word for compassion, compati, means to suffer with. Empathy.
Some personalities have no problem showing compassion, it comes naturally, while other personalities have no or low empathy and find it difficult to show or have compassion. Whether or not it comes naturally, we should have compassion with all people. Words that describe compassion are kindness, concern, awareness, empathy, understanding, listening, supporting, hope, validation, selfless, forgiveness, careful with criticism, appreciation, humility, protection, appreciation, love, etc.
If you struggle with showing compassion, build a system that will alert you to show compassion. Listen for words of need, struggle, and emotional pain and let those be alarm bells going off in your mind to turn on compassion (concepts above). If you’re not listening to understand but listening to reply, than you will miss this. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care (papa John Maxwell). Love people! Are you sensing a theme here? Put on compassion — clothe yourself in it.
Pray: Lord, teach me to be compassionate, kind, and gentle.
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