Compassion Makes a Difference

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Today’s Passage – Jude – Revelation 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 126 – 130; Proverbs 26)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Ephesians 4:32

Read the “1226 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from today’s passage – “Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock

“And of some have compassion, making a difference:” (Jude 1:22)

The Epistle General of Jude is a very interesting letter. Throughout almost the entire letter God is calling for us to stand up and fight against those who are promoting doctrinal error as well as those that are encouraging immoral lifestyles. These are not the ones who are merely walking in the counsel of the ungodly, they have gone all of the way to sitting in the seat of the scornful. They are not just allowing sin, they are spreading it. The letter demands that we draw a line in the sand and that we hold that line, defending it with all of the passion that we can muster. However, at the very end of the letter, Jude says something very interesting:

“And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:22-23)

While we are earnestly contending for the faith, we are also to be looking for people who we can show compassion to. The phrase, “making a difference” (διακρινομένοι from διακρίνω – diakrinō), has the idea of differentiating or distinguishing them from the people who are the troublemakers. These may be people who have fallen prey to those who are promoting  error. These could be people whose lives have been absolutely torn asunder because they have believed the lies of the ungodly. These are people whose lives may have been destroyed but whose hearts have been softened enough to be salvaged for the glory of God.

There are a lot of people out there in the world today who desperately need to experience the compassion of God. They certainly may not look or act like the people in our churches, but God sees something in them that He loves, and He sees hope. We don’t know who they are, either, so we had better be prepared to be compassionate with a lot of people until we find the one upon whom it will make a difference.

Compassion will make a difference. Don’t give up loving people for the Lord Jesus. People don’t care about how much you know, until they know how much you care.

How can we demonstrate the compassion of God to those around us?

1  Share Christ with Them – Though the context of this passage would certainly include people who are saved but have strayed from the faith, I think it would be safe to assume that many of the people that God wants to make a difference in are still lost in their sins. We need to compassionately convince these people of the love that Jesus has for them.

2  Spend Time with Them – We certainly need to maintain separation from people with ungodly lifestyles, but how are we supposed to reach these folks without interacting with them. We can be separated without being isolated. I do not have to participate in or condone the sins of those we are called to reach, but I can still come int their world. Verse 23 states that we have to pluck some of them out of the fire, and we cannot do that without getting close to the fire. Jesus said that we were to be in the world, but not of the world.

3  Supply Needs for Them – People whose lives have been torn apart by sin are often brought to their knees through very drastic circumstances, and many times they will need the support of God’s people in order for the love and compassion of Christ to penetrate them. Hungry people need food as well as the gospel. Homeless people need shelter and clothing as well as Bible principle. We might argue that the gospel and Bible principle are more important than the physical needs of the body, but these people will likely never give us their ears to hear, unless some of the distractions of the physical need are removed.

Jesus went about showing compassion on hurting people. He fed them, healed them, comforted them, and forgave them. We who are saved need to be ambassadors of God’s compassion today.

A man is walking along the shoreline of an ocean when he comes up on a little boy standing in the midst of thousands of starfish that had washed up along the shore. The man watches the little boy as he picks up a starfish and one by one throws them back in the sea. The man watches for several minutes then walks up to the boy and asks, “What are you doing?” The little boy answers, “I’m saving these starfish so they won’t die.” The man says to the boy…”There are too many too save, it wont make any difference.” The little boy reached down and picked up another starfish and said, “it will make a difference to this one” as he threw it into the ocean.


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