Quotes about Compassion
Your heavenly Father-in-Law never takes his eyes off his beloved child. He hears every word uttered in anger toward his children. He sees every act of violence; he witnesses every act of denial, manipulation, and control. Never imagine that he witnesses such assaults with a dispassionate apathy; on the contrary, he feels each slight as though you were persecuting Christ himself.
— Gary Thomas
spend much of their time and effort trying to bring people down to their level of misery rather than blessing others with joy and encouragement.
— Gary Thomas
God is radically for people. He wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). As his followers, we also must be for everyone, even if we oppose what they're doing. If we must live and work with toxic people, our call is to make sure their toxicity doesn't become ours. We don't treat them as they treat us. We don't offer evil in exchange for evil. We love. We serve. We guard our hearts so that we are not poisoned by their bad example.
— Gary Thomas
None of us can live up to the law; all of us will break it. Marriage teaches us — indeed, it practically forces us — to learn to live by extending grace and forgiveness to people who have sinned against us. If I can learn to forgive and accept my imperfect spouse, I'll be well equipped to offer forgiveness outside my marriage. Forgiveness, I'm convinced, is so unnatural an act that it takes practice to perfect it.
— Gary Thomas
life is richest when you give each moment of each day to God with the prayer, "Let me receive your love and pour it out on these people so that I can represent you every minute of the day."
— Gary Thomas
response—"Lord, how can I love him [or her] today like he [or she] has never been loved?" The answer may be very practical: take over a chore, speak a word of encouragement, take care of something that needs fixing. Or it may be romantic, or over-the-top creative, or generous, or very simple.
— Gary Thomas
I think we need the same attitude with our marriage. All of us experience certain things about our spouses that may be difficult for us to accept.
— Gary Thomas
Christians who demonstrate compassion because they are passionately in love with God will thus speak prophetically to a selfish culture and, sometimes, a selfish church. Selfishness distorts true sacrifice, and sacrifice is at the heart of true care.
— Gary Thomas
Each day we must die to our own desires and rise as a servant. Each day we are called to identify with the suffering Christ on the cross and then be empowered by the resurrected Christ. We die to our expectations, our demands, and our fears. We rise to compromise, service, and courage. In the same way Jesus gave his body for us, We are to lay down our energy, our bodies, and our lives for other.
— Gary Thomas
We want to be like Jesus, we need to begin initiating love toward others — starting with our spouses and moving on to friends, family, and coworkers.
— Gary Thomas
Chapter 21 teaches us to be less toxic toward ourselves.
— Gary Thomas
We have a duty to meet our spouse in their need. Correspondingly, we also have a Christian duty not to demand too much of our spouse.
— Gary Thomas