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Blue Letter Bible

In Blog, Jesus, Theology on
November 17, 2024

The Compassion of Christ

Showing compassion has never been my strong suit. Have you ever taken one of those online spiritual gifts tests? I have—multiple times—and I tend to score very low on the gift of mercy. I’m not quite sure why this is. I’ve never been much of an empathetic person, and I’ve never been one to feel or be in tune with others’ emotions. Compassion just doesn’t always come naturally for me, which can make biblical commands like “put on compassionate hearts” and “bear one another’s burdens” particularly difficult (Galatians 6:2, Colossians 3:12).

But showing compassion is something that I—and every other Christian, for that matter—ought to strive for. Why? It’s not just because Christians are expected to be very nice people, and it’s not just because a couple Bible verses say so (though, that is a good enough reason). We are called to be compassionate because Christ is compassionate. Multiple times in the Gospels, we see Jesus being moved by compassion for the people He ministered to (Matthew 9:36, 14:14; Mark 6:34). As Christians, we ought to imitate our Lord and Savior and show compassion as He did.

Let’s look at three Gospel accounts of Christ’s compassion and what they teach us about Jesus, as well as ourselves.

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In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
August 30, 2021

He is Sovereign

Human beings do not like to be controlled. We’re born with a tendency to resist what we’re told to do. And if we’re told we can’t have something, we immediately want it. We want to be in charge of our own lives and blaze our own trails! We want to be kings and queens in our own little kingdoms. This tendency goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). The reality is we’re not kings or queens, and there’s very little in this world that we can control one hundred percent of the time. We’re not in charge of this universe. The One who truly is in charge is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and only He is sovereign (1 Timothy 6:15). Our God is sovereign!

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In Bible Study, Blog, Habakkuk on
May 31, 2021

Live by Faith

Some of the least read books of the Bible are the Minor Prophets. Though they are short books, they are full of poetic language and imagery that is often difficult to understand and interpret. Because of this, many Christians (especially American Christians) don’t see how these books are at all relevant to their daily lives. But these books are more relevant than you might think.

In one of my last classes of my graduate program, I had to write a brief commentary on the book of Habakkuk for one of my Old Testament classes. I couldn’t have told you the last time I had read Habakkuk or even if I had ever read through the entire book at any time during my Christian life. However, as I began to study and dig deep into the book, I realized that the message of Habakkuk is extremely relevant and necessary for all Christians in this day and age.

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In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
August 24, 2020

He is Holy

“Holy Priceless Collection of Etruscan Snoods, Batman!” 

This is just one of the hundreds of odd “holy” exclamations made by Robin (Burt Ward) on the 1960s Batman TV series.[1] Though we may not exclaim phrases quite so random as this one, people in our culture do exclaim other “holy” phrases when they are surprised, astonished, or in disbelief such as Holy CowHoly MoleyHoly GuacamoleHoly MackerelHoly Smokes, and other less savory exclamations. The word “holy” is also used in an exclamation in the Bible-

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