Compassion

Compassion

Silent Answers
Once a young couple lost their only child, a beautiful three-year-old daughter, as a result of a freak accident. Unable to justify this tragedy with their concept of a loving God, they went to their minister for help. "Why?" they asked. "It was God's will," the preacher told them.
The couple just couldn't accept that the passing of their little daughter could somehow serve God's will, and they sought out another preacher friend. He quoted yards of Scripture, trying to give them comfort, but his verses fell on deaf ears.
Finally, the young couple turned to a frail elderly woman in their church. Surely, she could give them a reason for the child's death, but the old woman didn't utter a single word. Instead, she tenderly wrapped her arms around the heartbroken couple's shoulders, and together they cried the hurt away.
Sometimes when theological answers are not easy to the complex misfortunes of life, perhaps we just need to hush our babblings. Sometimes when answers aren't easy, our best statement is silent caring. Which Was Neighbor?
A certain woman went down from Washington to Richmond and ran over a spike which punctured her tire and left her stranded by the side of the road. After raising the hood of her car and tying a scarf to her radio antenna, she locked the door handles and sat in the car, praying for the Lord to send help!
By chance, there came a limousine that way with a bumper sticker that read, "Smile, God Loves You!" When the occupants saw the stranded woman, they passed by in the far lane-without smiling.
And likewise, there came a sports car with a CB radio and a bumper sticker saying, "Honk If You Love Jesus!" The man who was driving passed by in the far lane without honking and without using his CB to tell the Highway Patrol about the woman's dilemma.
But a certain working man, as he traveled to his job, came to the spot where the woman was and, when he saw her raised hood, white scarf, and flat tire, he had compassion on her. He stopped his old beat-up pickup-which had no bumper sticker-and crossed the four-lane highway, and offered to change the tire. The woman opened the door and gave him the key to the trunk. The man took out the spare tire, jacked up the car, removed the flat tire, and replaced it with the spare.
When he had finished, the woman tried to pay him. He refused the money, saying, "If my wife were stranded on the highway with a flat tire, I'd want some Good Samaritan to stop and help her out."
He returned to his bumper-stickerless truck, smiled, honked at her, and went his way.
Which of these three was neighbor unto her who had a flat tire? When Someone Is Needier Than You
In a leper colony clothes arrived for distribution among these outcasts of life.
One little leper boy was asked what he needed most. He replied, "My hands are still good so I can mend my clothes when they need it, but there are some lepers who have no fingers, and some whose hands are so crippled or sore that they cannot use them. When their clothes get holes in them, they cannot mend them but must see the holes get bigger and bigger. I am thankful for my good hands, so please give the clothes to those who cannot mend their own. They are more needy than I."
How we need such unselfishness. We should never complain when we know that there are others who are needier than we are.

Tell Peter I Am Alive
The angel said, "Tell His disciples and Peter," but why "and Peter?" He was one of the disciples. Why single him out from among all the rest? Was he any better? No, he was, if anything, a little worse. He had denied his Lord-three times and with oaths. And he was feeling very bad about it. He was cast down, heartsick, almost overwhelmed. And Jesus knew it full well, and it was just like Him to send a special word of comfort to him. It must have cheered the Apostle beyond words to be told that Christ had mentioned him especially as one to be given the news of His resurrection.

Little Things That Help Others
A plainly dressed woman was noticed picking up something on a poor slum street where ragged barefooted little children were accustomed to play. The policeman on the beat noticed the woman's action, and watched her very suspiciously. Several times he saw her stoop, pick up something and hide it in her apron. Finally he went up to her, and with a gruff voice demanded, "What are you carrying off in your apron?" The timid woman did not answer at first, whereupon the policeman, thinking she must have found something valuable, threatened her with arrest if she did not show him what she had in her apron. The woman opened her apron and revealed a handful of broken glass. "What do you want with that stuff?" asked the policeman. The woman replied, "I just thought I would pick it up so the glass would not hurt the children's feet."

Evangelism
A secretary on the job is engulfed in problems. Her husband left her; a son is in rebellion; she can barely make ends meet. She cries out for help. We don't hear.
A fellow employee is overwhelmed by the complexity of overcoming his chronic drinking problem. He longs for a friend. We're deaf to his cries.
The owner of the gas station where we've traded for years has just lost his wife. His eyes echo his loneliness. We don't see.
A wife would love to share with us the trauma and trivia of her day-just to have a listening ear. Our ears are closed.
And as the "perfect" ending to such a self-centered day, we hurry to the church building and get our weekly door-knocking assignment as we hasten to engage a cold prospect in an ambiguous process which we have labeled evangelism.
Does that approach make sense? It seems to me it is time we acknowledged the fact that a good translation of the Great Commission has it reading: "As you are going into all the world...."
You see, we are in such a hurry to "go!" that we miss the very ones whom God brings into our path-"as we are going." May God awaken us to the realization that true evangelism is loving the world the way God loves it; allowing our hearts to be broken by the things that break God's heart; acknowledging that there is no dichotomy between "evangelism" and "benevolence"-that true evangelism begins with Matthew 10:42 : "And if anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you, he will certainly not lose his reward."

Strange Fruit
Woman's Day magazine told of a strange happening on the campus of Green Acres Elementary School near Santa Cruz, California. One year a tree on that campus began to bear strange fruit, mostly sandwiches, but sometimes a cookie, a cupcake, an apple or an orange.
It came into being through the efforts of two teachers, Sophie Farrar and Sandra Enz, who were upset at the quantities of uneaten sandwiches discarded by the children. They suggested that the unwrapped sandwiches be placed under what the children began to call the free-food tree, for students who had come without a lunch or who had lost or forgotten their lunches. The idea was very popular among the children. Some youngsters asked their mothers to pack an extra sandwich so they would have one to put under the free-food tree.

How Long Has It Been Since You...
Took the time to go see someone who lives alone?
Wrote a letter to someone who crossed your mind?
Read the Bible to someone too ill to read for themselves?
Encouraged someone who was having a hard time being a Christian?
Prayed earnestly for someone who was faltering?
Tried to have a Bible study with someone you knew was lost?
Told a teenager that you were proud of his efforts to live for the Lord?
Spent more time on your knees praying than on the telephone talking?
EVERY CHRISTIAN CAN DO SOMETHING TO ENCOURAGE SOMEONE ELSE!

Make Life a Little Sweeter
O let me shed a little light
On someone's path I pray;
I'd like to be a messenger
Of happiness today!
It may be just a phone call,
A smile, or a prayer,
Or a long neglected letter
Would lift the edge of care.
I want to spread some happiness
In what I say or do,
Make life a little sweeter
For someone else! Don't you?

He Gave His Coat
A young man named John saw some ragged boys and invited them to Sunday school. One boy said he would go, but he had no coat. John gave him his coat and went in with him. Years afterward, a teacher of a Bible class told the story. A man in his class said, "I was that boy, and Dr. John G. Patton, one of the most famous missionaries of the ages, gave me his coat."

Burdened for the Lost
The St. Bernard dogs in the Alps who seek out travelers lost in a storm take their mission very seriously. One of these dogs returned late one afternoon, wearied from fighting his way through the drifts. He went to his kennel, lay down in a corner, and acted thoroughly despondent, despite the efforts of his master to encourage him. Was he sick? Well, no-not in body, but in heart. He had failed to find anyone to help and had come back ashamed. It is such sorrow of heart, resulting in outbursts of tears on behalf of others, that should characterize the Christian. An Overcoat of Love
I've been on both ends of this experience-the receiving and the giving. I remember when I first came to the United States from a warm climate. It was cold and I had no overcoat. How grateful I was to that servant of Christ, Melvin Wampler, who took off his coat and placed it on my shoulders. He went without so that I could be warm. In a similar manner I have often endeavored to do this for others. Believe me, however, there is more joy in giving and going without, than receiving and possessing.

Helping Your Brother
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). Concerning this passage, an eloquent preacher of the past wrote: "Many persons are caught with the most superficial contradiction. In the second verse it says, 'Bear ye one another's burdens'; and in the fifth it says, 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' As if both of them could not be true! As if a man carrying a burden for which he is especially responsible might not have it lightened somewhat by one who walked by his side and helped him! As if a little child carrying a heavily laden basket-which it was his task and business to carry, and which he had to take care of-might not be helped by another child walking by his side and taking hold of the handle. Might it not be said to one of them, 'This is your burden, and you must see to it'; and to the other, 'Help him with his burden.' To bear one another's burdens does not mean to take them from one another's shoulders, but to help each other to carry them." Be Such a Brother
A well-to-do businessman gave a fine car to his brother. One day when the brother went to the place he'd parked the car, he saw a ragged boy looking the car over with great interest. Instead of saying, "Get away from that car, kid," he smiled at the youngster. The boy was the first to speak. "Is that car yours, Mister?" "Yes, it is," was the reply. "What did it cost?" was the next question. "Nothing," said the man. The boy looked at him curiously and said, "You don't look like the kind of guy who would steal a car." The owner laughed and said, "No, it was a present from my brother." The boy seemed incredulous. "Do you mean to say he gave it to you as a present, and it didn't cost you anything?" "That's right." Then the boy said the most surprising thing of all: "I sure do wish I could be such a brother as yours." One might have expected him to say, "How I wish I could have such a brother as yours." The man asked him what he meant, and he explained: "I'll tell you. My youngest brother had polio and he can't walk to see all the shops in town and enjoy the toys, at least by seeing them in the windows. How I wish I had a car like this to take him around. Our father died, and we won't get any presents this Christmas. But at least I can walk along the streets and enjoy the shop windows; my brother can't even do this. That's why I'd like to be a brother like your brother."

More Than Sympathy
Queen Victoria was a close friend of Principal and Mrs. Tullock, of St. Andrews. Prince Albert died and Victoria was left alone. Just at the same time, Principal Tullock died and Mrs. Tullock was left alone. Quite unexpectedly, Queen Victoria came to call on Mrs. Tullock when she was resting on a couch in her room. The Queen stepped forward. "My dear," she said, "don't rise. I am not coming to you today as a queen to a subject, but as one woman to another who has lost her husband." She put herself in her friend's place. That is what God did for us. That is what we should do for others.

Bridge Builders
The word "pontiff," used to designate the highest religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, namely the Pope, has an interesting history. This was the name which, in the old pagan religion of ancient Rome, was given to the chief priests. The pontiffs were those who were invested with pontifical power. The name as it was first applied meant "the makers of bridges." Why it was used to designate a religious order we hardly know. Perhaps those old Roman pontiffs were specially employed in consecrating those mighty instruments of earthly peace and civilization, the great roads and bridges by which the old Romans tamed and subdued the world. But in a moral and spiritual sense we ought all to be makers of bridges. Pontiff or no pontiff, minister or no minister, every Christian who walks in his Master's steps ought to make it his special business to throw bridges across those moral rents and fissures which divide us one from the other. Across these various gulfs and chasms let every one lend a helping hand to build such bridges as best we can. There cannot be a more truly pontifical work.

He Gave What He Had
Martin of Tours was a man in whom faith and works combined to make him a true Christian. One day he met a beggar who asked for alms. Martin didn't have any money, but he saw that the beggar was freezing, so he gave him what he had. He took off his soldier's overcoat, old and faded as it was, cut it in half, and wrapped half around the beggar. During the night Martin had a dream. He saw heaven opened, and Christ wearing half an overcoat. One of the angels asked, "Lord, why are you wearing that shabby old coat?" Christ answered, "Because my servant gave it to me." It was only a dream, but it illustrates the truth that Christ taught, that whatever we do for others in His name, He accepts as a gift to Him.

Hold My Hand
A young man was on the border of nervous collapse as he lay on the operating table. Among the nurses, he noticed one watching him intently. He thought he knew her and called her to him. "Yes," she said, "We have met before." Then he whispered, "Would you mind holding my hand?" She gripped it and he lay calmly waiting for the operation. What a strong thing sentiment is! It can conquer a man's fears even in the face of life's most serious crises. In Honor Preferring One Another
During a spelling contest in which the prize was a fine Bible, the contestants were finally reduced to two-Betty, the daughter of a poor, hard-working widow, and Susan, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer. The sympathy of the school was with the poor girl. Finally Susan misspelled a word, and Betty won the coveted prize. Going home, Susan's mother said to her daughter, "Couldn't you have spelled that word?" "Yes, Mother." "Then why didn't you do it?" "Well, you know Betty is quite poor, and she doesn't get many presents. She wanted the Bible very much, and she tried so hard for it that I thought I'd let her have it." "What made you do that, Susie?" "My Sunday school lesson, Mother, which said, 'in honor preferring one another.' So I thought I'd try it, and I'm glad I did." A few days later, Susan received as a birthday present a beautiful Bible, and on the flyleaf was written the text, "In honor preferring one another" (Romans 12:10).

Legally Right, Morally Wrong
Each of us has certain legal rights in life. It is our privilege to insist that we enjoy every one of them. But in so doing we may commit moral wrong which would be injurious, not only to others, but also to ourselves and thus rob us of that most essential peace of heart. One of the apartments owned by a Christian landlord is rented by a widow with four children. Month after month, as a result of the hard work of that poor widow, the rent is paid. But suddenly she gets sick and is unable to pay the rent. The landlord has every legal right to call upon the authorities to evict this woman and her children from the apartment. His act would be legally right but morally wrong, i.e., right according to the letter, but wrong according to the spirit. If he shows kindness to this woman and her children and allows them to stay on in the apartment in spite of the fact they are not able to pay rent, he is showing the Christian quality of compassion. It is wiser to be willing to allow our legal rights to be trampled on, rather than by claiming them, to be morally in the wrong.

Love Your Enemies
During one of Mr. McKinley's congressional campaigns he was followed from place to place by a reporter for a paper of the opposite political party. The reporter was one of those shrewd, persistent fellows who are always at work, quick to see an opportunity, and skilled in making the most of it. While Mr. McKinley was annoyed by the misrepresentation to which he was almost daily subjected, he could not help admiring the skill and tenacity with which he was assailed. His admiration, too, was not unmixed with compassion-the reporter was ill, poorly clad, and had an annoying cough. One night Mr. McKinley took a closed carriage to a nearby town at which it had been announced he would speak. The weather was wretchedly raw and cold. He had not gone far when he heard that cough and knew that the reporter was riding with the driver in the exposed seat. McKinley called to the driver to stop so he could get out. "Get down off that seat, young man," he said. The reporter obeyed, thinking the time for the major's vengeance had come. "Here," said Mr. McKinley, taking off his overcoat, "You put on this overcoat and get into the carriage." "But Major McKinley," said the reporter, "I guess you don't know who I am. I have been with you the whole campaign, giving it to you every time you spoke, and I am going over tonight to rip you to pieces if I can." "I know," said Mr. McKinley, "but you put on this coat, and get inside and get warm, so that you can do a good job."

Warmth of Sympathy
Henry Ward Beecher, while walking down a street, passed a newsboy shivering in the cold. Being moved with compassion toward him, the great preacher bought up all his newspapers, and when he handed over the money to him, he said, "Surely you are cold?" "I was," replied the lad with a gulp, "till you passed, sir."