Compassion

What does it mean to have compassion?

noun1. a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

I am a work in progress, and I'm the first to admit that.  I have come along way, but God is still working in me.  He has given me compassion and He commands me to give it as freely as He has given it to me.  

What does the bible say about having compassion?

Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you

Galatians 6:2 - Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

James 1:27 - Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.

James 2:14-26  - What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Matthew 25: 35-36 - For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

So what does that mean for us as Christians?  We are COMMANDED to have compassion!  We can not just say, "I will pray for you and your needs."  We need to help each other out!  You see someone hungry, feed them!  You see someone without clothes, clothe them!  I think a lot of times, we want to believe that the said person in need somehow deserves the hunger or nakedness or homelessness.  The bible is saying the faith without deeds is dead!  Love one another people.  Have compassion on one another!  See a need, meet it!