When I was a teenager, I read the biography of missionary Mark Buntain. Mark was a missionary to Calcutta, India. In addition to sharing the message of Christ, Mark planted church, established bible colleges, built a first class hospital, and fed thousands of hungry people every day.
Once when Mark was in America preaching at churches and raising support for the work in India, he stayed overnight in a pastor’s home. Thinking Mark would enjoy it, the pastor had bought a record of Indian music to play for the missionary. They listened to the entire album and Mark asked to listen again. Finally, the pastor went to bed. Later in the night the pastor woke up to find Mark in the living room. With the album still playing, Mark was on his knees weeping prayer for the people of India.
I’ve never forgotten this story because I’m challenged by the compassion one man had for the lost. How does a person have this kind of compassion? How can we develop a heart like God’s for those who don’t know him?
- We have to ask God to help us develop his heart.
- We have to begin seeing needs around us.
- We begin responding as God directs.
In Luke 10:29, an expert in the Jewish Law asked Jesus a question. He asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
The Bible says, the man asked this question because he wanted to justify himself. He wanted to prove he was doing what was required by the law.
Jesus responds by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. You probably know the story, if not, you can read it in Luke chapter 10. It’s a story with a surprise ending. Jesus describes a man who had been attacked on the road and left for dead. Two religious men walked by without helping. Amazingly, someone of a different race, stops and offers assistance. The point is that proper question is not: who is my neighbor, but to whom can I be a neighbor.
A person with a true heart for God is a person who demonstrates compassion and kindness towards others in need. A title doesn’t make me a man of God. A position of leadership doesn’t automatically make me someone who faithfully serves God. Being religious on the outside doesn’t always mean that my heart has been truly changed.
My struggle, if I’m not careful, is that I ask the same question the lawyer asked in this story, “Who is my neighbor?” This is the wrong question. What the man was really asking is? “Do I have to love EVERYONE?”
My guess is that he was very sincere in his religion and did his very best to keep the law. But Jesus is teaching us that genuine biblical faith is not found in rituals, but rather a heart relationship with God. This relationship shapes every facet of your life.
Our relationship with God is inseparable from our relationships to the people in our lives. We can’t be in a love relationship with God and not act in love towards other people.
1 John 3:17 – “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
Compassion may call us to:
•Be a friend to a person who feels like an outcast
•Take time to teach a skill
•Lovingly confront someone who is going down a dangerous path
•Relieve a burden someone is carrying
•Transport someone to the doctor
•Take a meal to someone who is sick
•To serve on one a ministry teams at your church
•Don’t forget the most powerful act of compassion is to share Christ with someone who doesn’t know the Lord. This can turn someone from an eternity in Hell to eternity in Heaven.
Today’s Challenge: Ask God to show you people to whom you can be a neighbor. Imagine the impact on our world if every believer prayed this prayer. Respond as the Holy Spirit directs you and let’s be people of compassion.
