Living in the Image of God M02S04

Compassion entails sacrifice and generosity. Sacrifice is the value of goods and service that a person denies self to alleviate another’s need. Generosity implies a person’s effort in compassion is voluntary, constrained only by his or her ability to address the need, and motivated only by a desire to convey God’s love and care to the needy.

This bible study seeks to expand our understanding of compassion through a discussion of the role of sacrifice and generosity in providing goods or service to alleviate another person’s suffering. Compassion entails sacrifice, which means that a person will deny himself or herself something of value in responding to alleviate the need of another. Furthermore, compassion entails generosity, which means that a person’s effort in a call to compassion has to be voluntary, constrained only by his or her ability to address the need, and motivated only by a desire to convey God’s love and care to the person in need.

We discuss an example from David and one from Ruth to understand the nature of sacrifice in compassion. Also, we discuss from Paul’s message to the Corinthians to understand the implications of generosity in compassion.