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Compassion

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Compassionate caregivers

Any time, Drive time

Talk to your children about the “caring professions,” such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, pastors and counsellors.

Discussion point: God heals us from our spiritual illness of sin.

See if your children can name some caring professions without your help. As you drive around town, look for places where people in these occupations would work, such as hospitals, clinics, ambulance stations and churches.

Talk about how these people care for others, and use the discussion questions to discuss Jesus’ role as a compassionate healer. Point out that another name for God is Jehovah Rophe, meaning “Lord our healer” (Exodus 15:26).

Take time to pray and thank God for people who work in the caring professions. In the future, when you hear sirens or pass an accident scene, encourage your children to pray for the emergency workers and the people needing their help.

Questions for discussion
  • Who do you go and see if you are very sick?
  • When a person goes to the hospital with a broken leg, who cares for them?
  • How would you feel if a nurse was mean and callous to you?
  • Who comes to our home if we call an ambulance?
  • If we have some questions about God, or we need someone to pray for us, who can we go to for help?
Key concepts

We are very fortunate to live in a country where we have many sources for help and healing. If our bodies are hurt, we can get help from the paramedics working on an ambulance unit who take us to the hospital, or we can see a doctor. Medical professionals help us get the medicine or surgery needed to help our bodies fight germs or be mended.

We can also pray and ask God to help heal any injuries or illnesses we get. Not only does God promise to heal us physically, He also says He will heal us spiritually. Sin is a sickness of our hearts that only God can heal.

The Bible is full of stories about Jesus healing people physically and forgiving their sins. Jesus not only cares about our bodies being well, He also wants the spiritual part of us to be healthy too. (Our “spirit” is often referred to as our “heart.” You can also think of your spirit as being the quiet, private part of you that has the ability to talk with and know God.)

Relevant Scripture

Psalm 91:14 “Because he holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name.”

Psalm 103:1-3 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases . . .”

Matthew 14:14 “When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

Matthew 20:34 “And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed Him.”

1 Peter 2:24 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.”

Note: For two related discussions see the Bible story “hungry mouths and hungry hearts” from this lesson and “a task requiring teamwork and determination” in the Bible stories section of the cooperation lesson.

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