1 Peter 3:8. Is Compassion Disappearing?
Having a Mindset to Be Compassionate
Politics and the media today seem to have lost their compassion (1 Peter 3:8). When someone running for office has to defend her baby, when a family has to plead for the media not to show a clip of their daughter dying, when the gruesome video of an Olympian luge competitor is shown in its entirety, compassion has been lost.
Internet forums are horrible with their lack of compassion. If you don't have to see a person eye to eye you don't have to see or feel the pain. Forums I read have people that can't wait to jump in and pile on. It's a pack mentality with no thought of compassion for one another. 1 Peter 3:8 does not equate with forums. I just read where a guy was having trouble with his cattle dying. Sure enough, instead of compassion, a fellow cattle person thought it was the right time and place to belittle the guy on his losses instead of using a bit of compassion and helping the fellow through his crisis. Shocking? Maybe in the past, but no more. There is a time for truths and a time for correction but we must make a concerted effort to make compassion ( 1 Peter 3:8) a reality in our everyday lives.
Compassion is a funny thing. It goes hand in hand with being courteous and putting yourself in the other guy's shoes. When we forget that, we are setting ourselves up to be treated harshly and unfairly down the road. No compassion begets no compassion.
You can teach compassion, as Peter tried to do in 1 Peter 3:8. But you cannot demand compassion. You cannot force people to be compassionate. You cannot write a law. People either are or they are not. Can people change and become more compassionate? Yes. And that is what we are all striving for. 1 Peter 3:8 says we should be compassionate toward each other. He knew that humans are frail when it comes to how they treat each other.
Compassion is within us all. Read 1 Peter 3:8 again. It's only telling us to do what we want done to us.
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Published by Sherry Tomfeld
Gardening and food preservation are her passion, she has been doing both for 30 years.Working thousands of head of hogs, raising cattle, goats and chickens to being lead cook in a 90 resident nursing home. S... View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentYour observations are so true. The anonymous nature of the internet has made it so easy for even those who might hold back to be critical & judgmental. The outward voicing (or typing) of in-compassionate thoughts is damaging to others. But like you said, for the critical person, a change of heart is necessary-just holding back the vitriolic words is not enough. I wrote an article here on how to teach your child to be more compassionate. It has one of the lowest total page views of all my articles. It seems it is far easier to show compassion to disaster victims in other countries than to show empathy to those around us.
Very observent and well done.
Amen Sherry. You are spot on. This seems to be a dissappearing commodity in humans & at the very time we need it most. Great job here. I love your compassion about compassion. I actually had people tell me about the homeless man that "he made his own bed, now he can sleep in it!" I was flabergasted. I thought, where is your compassion? What if you were in his shoes!? Great job friend. I love your giftedness in writing. :-)
Very good article covering a subject I fear is becoming long lost in our culture. As the food ministry director for my church compassion and the lack of compassion are something I must deal with every day. thank you for this article. God bless
I do think in some ways compassion is disappearing. Not with everyone, mind you, but certainly with some. It is also being misrepresented by some. It is a sad state of affairs.