How to Have a Heart of Compassion: When God Opens Your Eyes

This week at The Altar during our 6 am prayer, the Lord gently led us back to two familiar scriptures: Matthew 9:35-38 and Romans 10:14-15. We had prayed with these just last week, lifting missionaries and those labouring in the field, but today, the focus shifted. This time, God brought the spotlight to our own hearts. He reminded us that how we see people matters.

A Personal Story: What Compassion Can See That Judgment Cannot

Let me take you back to a season in my life I rarely talk about.

It was around 2010. I had just given birth to my son, and about five or six months in, I was still bleeding. Day after day, I felt exhausted, but not the kind of tiredness a nap could fix. I was weak. I could barely carry out simple chores. Doing the dishes became a mountain. I remember one particular moment, trying to wash plates and barely able to lift the sponge. That was when something inside me finally said, This is not normal. Something is wrong.

Up until then, those around me had begun to call me lazy. Some didn’t say it, but I felt the judgment in their glances, their words, their tone. And the scary thing is, I started to believe them. I began to think maybe I was just being lazy. Maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough. Maybe this is what motherhood looks like.

But that day, I asked to be taken to the hospital.

The moment the nurse saw me and examined me, she didn't wait or debate. She said, “You need to be admitted immediately. You need a blood transfusion.”

Just like that, everything made sense. What the nurse saw in minutes, a severe deficiency, others failed to recognise for months. Not because they didn’t care, but because they didn’t have the skill, the insight, or the compassion to look deeper.

Jesus Saw the Multitude… and Felt Compassion

In Matthew 9:36, it says:

“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” (NKJV)

In Matthew 9:36-38 (MSG), it says:

When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”

Jesus didn’t see inconvenience. He didn’t see weakness. He didn’t see laziness. He saw harvest. God's harvest.

Let that sink in.

Where others see problems, God sees potential.

Where people see inconvenience, Jesus sees harvest.

Where some see laziness, God sees a need for healing, help, and hope.

The nurse at that hospital had both the training and the heart to recognise that I was in desperate need of help. It reminds me of what God wants to build in each of us, not just eyes to see, but hearts to feel. That’s what Jesus had. And it’s what we’re called to walk in too.

Romans 10 and the Feet That Bring Good News

Romans 10:14-15 reminds us:

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? … And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace…’” (NKJV)

But those “beautiful feet” must first be carried by compassionate hearts. We cannot reach the harvest with harshness. We cannot carry the Good News while carrying judgment in our hearts.

Say This Prayer

Dear God,

Please work in me both to will and to do of Your good pleasure.

Give me a compassionate heart for the people You have called me to reach, so that I may see them not as problems but as harvest.

Teach me not to be conformed to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by Your Word and Your Spirit.

Grant me discernment to know what to do when I recognise those You’ve placed in my path.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Reflection for Today

As you go about your day, ask the Lord to give you eyes that see like Jesus and a heart that is moved like His. Remember, compassion isn’t weakness, it’s the power of heaven working through a yielded vessel.

May you never miss a harvest because of a hard heart.

May you never walk past someone bleeding because the world calls it “lazy.” And may your feet carry the Good News with tenderness, truth, and transformation.

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If this message stirred something in your heart, don’t just let it pass.

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