Compassion As a Christian Thing

 

1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ² Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. ³ Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Hebrews 13:1-3

Christianity was never meant to be a kind of middle-class club where God promised a "chicken in every pot." That is an American thing, but not a Christian thing. Scripture, over and over again, admonishes believers to "remember" those who are suffering, those who are grieving, those who suffer lack. To love our neighbors as ourselves! If we are blessed in any way, God has blessed us in order that we might bless others, not to make us "happy," to satisfy the lusts of our own flesh.

"Remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." I keep thinking about what’s going on in our country, with advocacy groups rising up, sometimes even aggressively, saying, "Hey, listen to us! Hey, what about us? We are here! We are people just like you!" It shames me that there are churches in every single community who could do something about the poverty, who could do something about the loneliness, who could do something about the injustice, and yet we very often do nothing! We are too concerned about ourselves to reach out even to those within our congregations who are suffering! We are too busy to visit, to cook a meal, to make a phone call. We are too debt-strapped to give a dollar, to pay a gas bill, to give a ride.

We have forgotten what it means to actually be Christians.

The two great commandments: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. There are all kinds of things within our churches and within our own lives that we could stop so that, instead, we could minister to the hurting world around us. There are ministries rising up everyday—rescue missions, recovery groups, foster children organizations, food banks. We could at least choose one and begin to invest our families into it. Will that demand a change in our lives? Of course. It may mean actually giving up something. Turning off the cable. Downsizing our phone service. Limiting a vacation. But we will be investing into lives! Into people for whom Christ died! We will begin to live lives of compassion and ministry, lives that reach out in love to our neighbors!

The Church was always meant to live compassionately, to live out Christ’s love in our local communities and around the world. If we actually began to live as we should, can you imagine the difference we would make?

© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.