COMPASSION FOR OTHERS

Matt. 25:40,45-46  “And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me’….And he will answer, ‘I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.  And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.’” NLT

Jesus was teaching the disciples about what real compassion for others was like.  He talked about the downtrodden, those on the outskirts of society, those down on their luck, and even those in prison.  He made it clear that those who had compassion for those who most would look down on and did what they could to help them or encourage them would be doing what God wanted them to do.

Jesus also made it clear that those who ignored those who were suffering and acted like they didn’t exist, would be rejected by God.  It doesn’t matter what we may profess to believe or have, if it doesn’t result in reaching out to others in compassion, we are not going to be accepted by God.

It is a sobering lesson, isn’t it?  We must ask ourselves whether we are compassionate towards others or not.  It’s easy to profess love for those who are our friends and live similar lifestyles that we do, but what about those less fortunate than we are?  Does our hearts reach out to those on the lower edges of society?  Do we do anything at all to try and relieve some of the sufferings of others?  What about those who barely have food to survive on day by day, or those in prison whom everyone forgets about unless they make the news?  

It is one thing to proclaim love for others, it’s a totally another thing to put feet to our love and try to do something about it.  How can we claim to love God when we don’t show love for those whom He loves?