As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, we are instructed to clothe ourselves with compassion. Compassion is often misunderstood as merely having tender-hearted feelings or doing nice things for those less advantaged, yet it encompasses much more. It reflects the Golden Rule: doing to others what we would want done to us. God's compassion, as shown in Scripture, is profound and renewing, with His compassions refreshed every morning, offering comfort during heavy trials. He deeply cares for His people, seeing their oppression, hearing their cries, and knowing their sorrows. In the life of Jesus Christ, compassion is vividly demonstrated as a visceral reaction, a deep inner movement when witnessing suffering. He was moved with compassion upon seeing great multitudes, healing their sick, feeding the hungry who had been with Him for days, and comforting a widow in her grief by telling her not to weep. True compassion, as exemplified by Him, means suffering together, sharing in another's pain, and truly feeling their anguish within ourselves.

Christ's ongoing compassion appears through His self-sacrifice. The Word of God became a man, Jesus of Nazareth, so that He could completely feel both joy and pain as mankind does. As a God-Being, to that point He knew life only as an eternal, all-powerful Deity. He put on a human form that of a servant to feel frailty and to know limitations and weaknesses. As Creator, God has always had great compassion for His children, but for Jesus Christ to be a perfect High Priest, with perfect compassion for Him to suffer along with His creation He had to become a human being. During His life, Jesus lived with a large family, interacted with neighbors, and dealt with many different kinds of people. He was a carpenter and had to run a business. He worked hard and became tired and hungry. He paid bills, taxes, and tithes. He had to deal with government. He saw firsthand the death of His friend, Lazarus, and likely the death of His own earthly father, Joseph. Of course, He was hounded by the Jewish authorities, arrested, tried, convicted, scourged, and crucified. Because He experienced these things and many others, He now knows what human life and its many difficulties is really like. Compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. When Jesus went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. Jesus' compassion was more than just a feeling. His compassion for others' weaknesses and hardship led Him to exert Himself in positive actions. Whether it was healing the sick, casting out demons, or giving people proper instruction, His compassion motivated Him to work to make peoples' lives better. Jesus is the Example to follow, so it is necessary to express this same kind of active compassion to the brethren and to others encountered. As Christians, it is necessary to be clothed with compassion. The principle of compassion is based on the Golden Rule, Do to others what you would have them do to you. His instruction in the Golden Rule is a summation of the last six of God's Ten Commandments, which outline duty to fellow man. Jesus summarizes them in another way in His Second Great Commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. All that Jesus did throughout His life and ministry provide examples of real compassion. Because it is necessary to love others as ourselves, it may be necessary at this point to define the word self. In its widest possible sense, however, a man's self is the sum total of all that he can call his, not only his body and his psychic mental powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank account. This definition covers a great deal of ground not just bodies, but also everything considered to belong to us. It illustrates how extensive love needs to be for others. If love for ourselves is this broad, love including compassion for others must be equally as broad. While it is never possible to literally do exactly what Jesus did, it is possible and necessary, to the best of abilities, to become that suffering person and make that suffering our own. As much as possible, it is necessary to place ourselves in his shoes, as it were, and truly experience and feel his suffering, mentally and emotionally, even physically. Then, continuing in the Savior's example, it is necessary to take whatever steps that are in power to lessen and, if possible, relieve that suffering. When suffering their pain or suffering from own hardships, it is then necessary to use experiences in coping with them to help others make it through their distresses, as would be wanted from others. This is what Jesus did and what is necessary to do to follow the admonition to be clothed with the fullness of compassion that God has for His chosen and beloved people.

Compassion, as a virtue, is often portrayed as a defining characteristic in political rhetoric, with Democrats positioning themselves as more compassionate than Republicans through advocacy for minority rights, welfare, universal healthcare, amnesty, labor unions, and choice. However, compassion is not an inviolable virtue and can be abused by impure motives, used to gain sympathy, votes, and power. True compassion, as exemplified by Jesus Christ, is an outpouring of selfless concern for the ultimate well-being of another, expressed in sacrificial action. In various instances, He showed compassion for those in dire need—lepers, widows, the blind, and weary multitudes—performing miracles to alleviate their suffering without seeking personal gain. His actions were driven by outgoing concern, aiming to draw people closer to God, without ulterior motives or demands for reciprocation. His compassion extended to giving His life for humanity while they were still unworthy, demonstrating a love that never ends and promises eternal life in His Kingdom. In contrast, the compassion displayed by political parties often appears contrived, used as a tool to attract favor rather than to genuinely address deep-rooted issues.

God commands His people to execute true justice while showing mercy and compassion to one another, without oppressing the widow, the fatherless, the alien, or the poor. This directive reveals that genuine justice cannot stand alone but must be tempered by compassion, reflecting the character of God Himself, who is perfectly just yet abundantly merciful and delights in extending compassion. Human nature tends toward partiality and harshness, but Scripture requires believers to free themselves from prejudice, discover all facts, and ensure expectations are fair before rendering judgment, always following such justice with kindness so that the offender understands the action stems from love rather than enmity. Compassion finds its clearest expression in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. He was moved with compassion for the multitudes, healing the sick, forgiving sinners, and restoring the afflicted. In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, the king's compassion leads him to release a debtor from an enormous obligation, illustrating how God's forgiveness of humanity's unpayable debt should prompt believers to show the same compassion toward others. Jesus explicitly instructs His followers to be merciful just as the Father is merciful, to love enemies, to do good without expecting return, and to forgive without limit. The Greek term eleos captures this quality, denoting mercy that actively relieves misery and need. Compassion is therefore mercy in action. It withholds deserved punishment when appropriate, provides relief to the suffering, and treats others with the generosity God has shown. Those who practice it will receive mercy in return, for mercy triumphs over judgment. By contrast, withholding compassion after having received it from God demonstrates a failure to understand His grace. Ultimately, compassion flows from love, imitates the Father of mercies, and enables believers to reflect His heart in a world marked by injustice.

Kindness is the feeling of compassion in action, encompassing the right thoughts, words, gestures, and deeds. It reciprocates God's sacrificial love outwardly to others, requiring effort to develop and put on each day. Only through God's enabling Spirit, bonded by humble daily sacrifice and obedience, can we perform acts of kindness that control our minds to think positively of others and seek opportunities to serve. Kindness bridles our tongue, never complaining, and never speaks evil of anyone, giving readily to those in need without keeping score. God's Spirit of kindness forbears, forgives, and accepts loss of self-esteem to maintain peace. True kindness arises from spiritual transformation and submission to God, especially in challenging situations. It is not optional but a necessary response to the forgiveness and compassion we have received from Him. God's fruit of kindness is freely given to everyone, whether deserved or not, reflecting His character of being kind to the unthankful and the evil. When we understand the fullness of God's great mercy and kindness, we are empowered by His Holy Spirit to exhibit this humble sacrifice of kindness to all, regardless of merit. During a desperate time on a ship in the ocean, we tasted the kindness of our great God and His Family, sustaining and strengthening us through the longest 36 hours of our lives. Each card, call, email, and text of encouragement from brethren strengthened us, producing the fruit of God's lovingkindness through daily sacrifices. These small acts of kindness, though not requiring much time or effort, are especially sweet to those in need and are a major factor in producing unity. As God's elect, we are called to be a shining light to this world by working harder to exhibit His fruit of kindness. Whether through a friendly greeting, a smile, encouraging words, or a simple gesture like letting someone into traffic, kindness given without expectation of return transforms our selfish carnal mind into a selfless, godly one. Each act of kindness, as a daily living sacrifice, extends His kindness to others, developing a heart attuned to their needs and ready to reach out when the opportunity arises.

Many songs have been written about love, yet the world's concept of love often misses the mark. The idea that love makes the world go around is a pleasant notion, but in reality, the world is driven by satan's ways of greed, hatred, lust, and self-seeking—the way of get, the way of self. The love celebrated in songs and by society is frequently tied to the fleeting excitement of romantic entanglement, rather than the true, outgoing concern for others that reflects God's nature. Man's idea of love is far simpler and more self-centered than God's; it is often reduced to deep devotion, affection, or strong sexual passion toward another, or even mere enjoyment of activities like skiing or riding a motorcycle. Such definitions fall short of the benevolent, selfless love that God embodies and calls us to exhibit—a love that seeks the best for others, not merely what they desire. The world, lacking a true understanding of God, rarely grasps the depth of this love, focusing instead on personal satisfaction rather than the outgoing goodwill and kindness that mirror God's character.