Compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, usually accompanied by an action to alleviate the suffering.
There are a lot of tragic and horrible things that happen in the world everyday. Starvation. Diseases. Accidents. Slavery. Murders. Rapes. Abuse. Divorces. Bullying. Homelessness. Poverty. The list goes on. It's easy to look at the world and say, "God, where are You?" But you know what I think His response is?
"No, where are you?"
As believers, God has left it up to us to be His hands, His feet, His love, His light. He commissioned us. He commanded us. What are we doing with His commission and commandment?
I know I've said it before, but I love how the Lord went about choosing His disciples. They were all people that we can relate with. They were all stupid sometimes. They were all prideful sometimes. They were all wrong sometimes. They had good intentions. They were just figuring things out along their way.
This is in Matthew 14, where Jesus feeds the five thousand. Jesus had just gotten news of John the Baptists death.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
I read this the other day, after hearing a sermon about the difference between God's heart and our hearts. Jesus had just gotten tragic news of his good friends death. He withdrew to be alone and grieve. But even in the midst of tragedy and heartbreak, Jesus still had compassion on the people and met their needs. He forgot Himself. As the evening continued, the disciples thought about the people and how they must be getting hungry. They were concerned for them. Concern is a good feeling to have. But if all you have is concern, then all you have is a feeling. Jesus went further than to be concerned for them. He had compassion on them, which led Him to an action to help them Himself.
I wonder...how many times are Christians just concerned with the worlds affairs? How often are we just concerned with our own church family? Concern alone is just a feeling. We need to be like Jesus and be moved to compassion. If there is a need, and I have the resources or power to meet that need and I don't, that's a problem. In the beginning of the church, the church family was described like this:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I know I'm guilty of this sometimes. I know I've allowed myself to stop at concern, feeling sorry or touched or broken for another people, but doing nothing about it. I know I've tried to even stop myself on purpose because I know that compassion will mean that I have to do something I might not want to do. I'm not saying that we should give all of our money to everyone, or use all of our time trying to meet other peoples needs. We all have our own lives to live too, with responsibilities and committments. But if it's in my power to do something and I have something to offer that someone needs but I'm not giving it, I'm missing something. The world knows exactly what Christians are supposed to do, make no mistake about it. And when we don't do them, we disappoint the world. Believers and non-believers alike. I can talk all day about the state of the world and how horrible I feel about it. I can pray all day about the tragedies and heartbreak that go on around me, and praying is good. But "the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." God wants me to be His hands and feet. God gives to us all the time, hoping we'll give it all away.
Henri Nouwen once said,“Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it."
I don't want to disappoint the world because I'm full of talk and no action. I don't want to let down my church family when someone is in need and I have the means to meet that need, but don't. I want to be compassion driven, like my Jesus.
The Best Is Yet To Come...
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