Our Christian identity and how we live in the world are rooted in God through Jesus Christ. At our core, we are God’s beloved. God invites us to live in the way of Jesus, who brings hope and restoration to the world.

In Scripture, we come to know who we are as God’s people by how God acts. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God's compassion and loving-kindness continually point toward a loving God.

During the 2016 Compassion Conference, the late Dr. Roger Hahn shared insights on the roots of compassion in Scripture. There are six Greek words for compassion found in the New Testament. The most common is σπλαγχνίζομαι (splanchnizomai), which appears 12 times in the Gospels—nine of those referring to Jesus acting with compassion. The remaining three occur in Jesus’ parables, where he describes human action.

Here we find that compassion is more than just a feeling—it is a deep motivation to act. More than sadness or sympathy alone, this compassion conveys something profound and mysterious, moving us to action.

The Gospels often tell us that Jesus was motivated by compassion when he saw people “like sheep without a shepherd.” These included crowds of harassed and helpless people, the sick, the hungry, the blind, a leper, and a grieving widow and mother. Clearly, those who were lost and in need moved the Son of God to act.

HESED – Loving Kindness, Covenantal Love

Jesus’ actions reflect God’s own compassion for the people of Israel, which is often linked to the Hebrew word hesed, meaning loving kindness or faithfulness. This compassion motivated the covenant relationships that God sought with His people. It is through this compassion that God says, “You are my children, my chosen ones.”

Jesus acts with compassion because this is the nature of the God we serve. Who God is—and how God acts—is central to our identity as followers of Jesus.

Our human understanding of compassion, and God’s calling toward it, has its roots in God’s very nature. In the Old Testament, there are nine Hebrew words associated with compassion, with 117 total occurrences. Of these, 78 refer to either divine or human action, and 29 refer to character (only one of which describes human character).

The Old Testament shows compassion as a practice, not merely an abstract idea. This affirms that God's compassionate nature is active—it is not just an attribute of God’s character. God's loving kindness reveals the wholeness of God’s nature, demonstrated in His love toward humanity.

In Scripture, we see:

• God’s compassionate nature frequently leads to the rescue and restoration of His people.
• God’s compassion is repeatedly connected to grace, hesed (covenant love or fidelity), forgiveness, and righteousness.

(Roger Hahn, 2016 Compassion Conference)

For our own identity and how we live in the world, I invite us to remember the dynamic God we serve—one who shows unending compassion. Like Jesus, who was obedient to his Compassionate Father, we are called to act with the same love, so that compassion becomes a habit, a way of being.

Compassion is not just an aspiration or attribute. It flows from the abundance of God. Because we rest in God’s unending love, we are able to give of ourselves.

God is love.
The way of Jesus lives in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. May we reflect God's compassionate nature in all we say and do.

- Nell Becker Sweeden, Director of NCM

This story comes from the latest issue of NCM Magazine. Read the entire issue here.