The True Woman: Chapter 6 – Compassion

Welcome to the recap of chapter 6 of our book study on The True Woman by Susan Hunt, brought to us by Marliss Bombardier, a sweet godly woman in my church. Read on for a challenging call to compassion!

This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.-Martin Luther

“For God’s covenant family to have a vital presence in culture, there must be community and compassion in the Christian home and in the church…women are essential for community and compassion to flourish. Women are essential to create the family atmosphere where truth can be heard, absorbed, and then reflected within and without the walls of the church. This does not constrain women. It unleashes us to do what we have been designed to do.” pgs. 127-128

Women are essential to build community and to extend compassion as avenues for His truth to be heard. How uplifting, and yet how humbling. Do we regard this role as essential as God regards it? The new woman has no time for compassion, no time to build community, no time for anyone but herself, others as they pertain to herself, and her own selfish ambition. And that ambition doesn’t necessarily have to focus on the working world-it can be hidden in the heart of a stay-at-home Christian wife and homeschooling mother as well.

I wanted to summarize this chapter because compassion is something that God has used the last few years to grow in me. A woman who knows her own mind and is competent and intelligent sometimes has trouble understanding why others cannot quickly dispatch with troubles and problems like she does. But “Whom the LORD loves, He chastens, and scourges every son [and daughter] whom He receives.” Heb. 12:6

God, in His great mercy-and it is a severe mercy, as the woman wrote in the testimony at the beginning of the chapter-has granted me trouble that I cannot quickly dispatch. Trouble that is not of my own making, just like the illness of the woman in the testimony, and like her, I can also say, “In gentleness and kindness, God has opened my eyes to my own sin as a contributing factor to much of the struggle I experienced” and still experience.

Covenant Compassion

“The word compassion is from the Latin words com, which means with, and pati, which means to suffer. So it means to share a deep feeling or passion with another person.” pg. 128 In the last chapter, we learned that God is our Helper, our ezer. pg. 107 God designed women to be helpers, so women are naturally drawn to nurturing relationships in community through compassion. Rather than disdaining our role as helper, we should embrace it, and use the gifts and talents that God has given us to relieve the pain so prevalent in our fallen world. “We should find great freedom in unleashing this compassionate side of our being into the arena of ministries and mercy.” pg. 129

Susan Hunt goes on to say, “What is even more astounding is that God equates knowing Him with being compassionate to the poor and needy.” And then she asks an intriguing question:

“What will happen if Christian women are motivated and activated by a covenant understanding of community and compassion and a clear concept of biblical womanhood to infuse community and compassion into our homes, churches, and communities?”

My church is only about 10 years old, so we are still learning how to express compassion in the community, not only of faith, but the secular community. We seek to show the compassion of Christ by personal outreach to friends and neighbors, by ministering to the poor and homeless, and by political activity. We have sent missionaries to the field and helped plant churches. Many families, even those who could be looking forward to an empty nest in a few years have adopted multiple children. Personally, I am free to be open and honest about the refining fire in which God has placed me, and in turn, share deeply in the sorrows and joys of my sisters in Christ. I know that other churches do more and better than we do, but I also know that this is not the culture in many churches. So the question remains…

Women Who Changed Their Communities for Christ

Susan Hunt gives two beautiful examples of women who changed their communities for Christ. The first is Nancy McGlocklin, a woman who lived in the Allegheny Mountains of southwestern Virginia in the late 1800′s. In 1866, an itinerant Presbyterian pastor was riding through the mountains and came upon a poor cabin. On hearing that the woman who lived there was sick, he stopped and prayed for her. The first Sunday she was able, Nancy McGlocklin walked six miles round trip to the minister’s church.

Nancy McGlocklin was 47 years old, and did not know how to read. She learned to read in a children’s Sunday school class, and was given a Bible. Soon she was taking her children, then other children, to church. Over time, Nancy’s husband and children came to know Christ as Savior. Gradually the community cleaned itself up, social ills began to disappear, and people started to talk of wanting their own church. That church is still in operation today. Nancy McGlocklin “understood the centrality of the church in her Christian life. Her spiritual growth took place in the church, and her ministries flowed from the church [to her family and] to the community.” pg. 131

The second example is from Susan Hunt’s own church. The son, Miles, of one of the families developed AIDS. The whole church drew together in compassion around this family, but one woman, Judy, was especially touched by this family’s distress and became the hands and feet of Christ for them. “Compassion is a community affair. In a practical sense, everyone does not do everything; but in a spiritual sense, we do.” pg. 134

During Miles’ illness, when he lived with his parents, Judy became like a member of the family, bringing food, flowers, special treats, driving Miles to appointments, and anticipating and meeting needs. Judy’s extravagant love gave her credibility with Miles as she spoke to him of his need for Christ, and she was blessed by seeing Miles come to faith before he died.

Clogging and Unclogging the Channel of Compassion

“There are many things that clog the channel of compassion: anger, unforgiveness, a root of bitterness, emotional pain, lack of confidence… Some women even say the men in their lives are the deterrent.” pg. 134 The men can be in authority, in charge of resources or means of relief, or they may be working side-by-side with us to meet a need. Men and women are different, and God designed us to meet needs in different ways. We should work together, aware of our God-given differences, and not work against each other.

The truth of the matter is, the only thing that can clog the channel of compassion is sin. Not someone else’s, but our own sin. So often we see our own need for compassion due to circumstances, or someone else’s sin against us as too overwhelming to allow us to feel compassion for another. In reality, our circumstances, or another’s sin against us are ways that God teaches us to feel compassion for others. He comforts us that we may be able to comfort others with the same comfort. II Cor. 1:3-4.

On top of that, someone’s sin against us can be God’s way of leading us to feel compassion for that person. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Matt. 5:44

Circumstances and people may redirect the flow of compassion-which is an essential role of women-but only our own sinfulness can stop the flow altogether. Repentance is key to loving others, reaching out in compassion and revealing the glory of God to a hurting world.

Discussion Questions

1. Are there circumstances or emotional pain in your life that God is using to develop your facility for compassion? Is there something blocking your ability to be compassionate right now?

1. How do you show compassion? To your family? To your church family? To the larger community?