Bill Dogterom
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Compassion Overload
Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast States – Hurricane Rita takes out parts of Texas – Tropical Storm Glen floods major parts of El Salvador – massive rain storms result in widespread flooding in the northeast – an Earthquake in Pakistan wipes out whole communities, resulting in upwards of 30,000 dead . . . The news of the past month has been an unrelenting horror. The fax machine spits out page after page asking for help. We wonder, is it possible to care anymore? Are we in compassion burn-out?
Jesus is clear – there will always be those for whom we can care, to whom we can give. The trick for us is to discern what kind of response is appropriate. With that in mind, here are a few things to think about.
The first response ought always be to pray. That might sound “wimpy” – but that is only because we don’t understand the nature and power of prayer. When we pray, we position ourselves in a strategic partnership with One for whom resource is not limited. Furthermore, in prayer, we signal our willingness to cooperate with Him, putting our resources at His disposal. It is important to remember that everything we have in our hands is His. We signal this fact by our tithe – not to tithe is to buy into the lie that what we “have” is ours by right rather than by gift. When we tithe, we let the kingdoms of this world know that we are glad recipients of God’s gracious provision to us – and that our “stuff” is in His hands to use as He wishes.
The second level of response arises out of our prayer – we begin to discern how to respond with what God has placed in our hands. We have understood the principle that faithfulness is required of those to whom much has been entrusted. When we look at what we have, it may not look like much – but that is not ours to judge. We don’t even know what “much” is! We ask the Father how He wishes to allocate the resources that we are holding in His name.
Thirdly, we become informed – and follow our hearts. As we listen to the news with a prayerful heart, sooner or later, some need will trigger a response. If nothing does, or everything does, we need to pray at a deeper level to be appropriately moved with compassion. And then, based on the draw of the Spirit, we act as best we can with what is in our hands. We may give sacrificially or safely in response to the instruction of the Father. He will never ask us to give what we do not have. But . . . starting with prayer we can learn to hear what He is asking of us.
Jesus is clear – there will always be those for whom we can care, to whom we can give. The trick for us is to discern what kind of response is appropriate. With that in mind, here are a few things to think about.
The first response ought always be to pray. That might sound “wimpy” – but that is only because we don’t understand the nature and power of prayer. When we pray, we position ourselves in a strategic partnership with One for whom resource is not limited. Furthermore, in prayer, we signal our willingness to cooperate with Him, putting our resources at His disposal. It is important to remember that everything we have in our hands is His. We signal this fact by our tithe – not to tithe is to buy into the lie that what we “have” is ours by right rather than by gift. When we tithe, we let the kingdoms of this world know that we are glad recipients of God’s gracious provision to us – and that our “stuff” is in His hands to use as He wishes.
The second level of response arises out of our prayer – we begin to discern how to respond with what God has placed in our hands. We have understood the principle that faithfulness is required of those to whom much has been entrusted. When we look at what we have, it may not look like much – but that is not ours to judge. We don’t even know what “much” is! We ask the Father how He wishes to allocate the resources that we are holding in His name.
Thirdly, we become informed – and follow our hearts. As we listen to the news with a prayerful heart, sooner or later, some need will trigger a response. If nothing does, or everything does, we need to pray at a deeper level to be appropriately moved with compassion. And then, based on the draw of the Spirit, we act as best we can with what is in our hands. We may give sacrificially or safely in response to the instruction of the Father. He will never ask us to give what we do not have. But . . . starting with prayer we can learn to hear what He is asking of us.
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