If Jesus were walking with us today and asked, “What do you see?  Do you see the need, the depths of despair, and pain?”  The Lord would be asking you to look, where?  How would you respond?

Biblical Response

According to the Bible, the heart of God responds to the disadvantaged with active compassion.  This is the heart of pure/true religion.  Compassion is all about connecting with the helpless condition of the hurting world.  The spiritual and physical needs of this world are great.  Look around, where are the greatest needs?  Who is suffering the most?  If you are called to Christ, you are called to compassion.  What is your response?

Demonstrating justice, compassion, and humility is required

Only through the Power of God, the Word of God, and our intentional decision to practice the Heart of God can we develop a heart for the city and its people.  Developing a heart for the city and its people means being called to Christ and called to compassion.

…be doers of the Word and not hearers only… but a doer who acts… [control your tongue, care for the afflicted, keep oneself unstained by the world, show no partiality… this true religion]

James 1:23-2:13

Jesus said the people in cities and villages were ‘harassed, weary, or distressed’ meaning: to be flayed open, in hopeless despair, thrown down, to be at the end of oneself – the recurring effects of those who are ‘harassed’ can be pictured as a rock is thrown onto a pond, which results in a seemingly never-ending cycle of ripples and rings, thus illustrating the downward spiral of discouragement and hopelessness felt by the poor and disenfranchised.  Jesus was moved with compassion.  He saw beyond external appearances into the hearts of the people.  He saw that they were unprotected, unsaved, and unguided. Jesus said to pray that God’s people will enter into the pain and suffering of those harassed.

…When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd…

Matthew 9:35-38

Your Response

When you walk down the streets of our cities, when you drive threw neglected, despairing, destitute neighborhoods, when you see crowds of people…  How deeply do you see?  Are you moved with compassion or revulsion?  How would you respond? It is possible for you to do the right thing for the wrong reason or to do the wrong thing for the right reason.  How will you respond?