A Need For Compassion

A few years ago, I was invited to speak a Christian gathering where one by one people stood up to testify how much God had blessed them in life and how grateful they were to him for His undeserving love. When it was my turn to speak, I told the story of a girl I had met that was abused for years as a child. As a result she wandered in life doing some pretty bad things. I told the group that this was just the kind of person we should help by befriending them so they could feel acceptance instead of so much rejection from the world. I explained that Jesus came to give hope and love to the lost. When I finished speaking no one responded. I felt out of place. The rest of the speakers took their turn each testifying again about how much God had blessed them.

I have since told the story of the abused girl to many groups who are caretakers of people or currently struggling in life themselves. Each time the reaction is totally different from that day before the Christian gathering. Almost unanimously the reaction is that of compassion for the struggling girl. I have thought about it a lot lately. Why the different reaction between the two groups?

To me compassion follows the heart. Compassion gives us the ability to look outside ourselves and help others in need. Compassion is the difference between a love for God and the love of God for others. It is compassion to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Tom Krause

Nixa, MO