Practical Compassion

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

– John 13:35

As Christ-followers, we're often reminded about the importance of helping our neighbors and showing compassion to strangers. Jesus taught this principle through The Good Samaritan, one of the most familiar stories of the Bible.

It’s in Luke’s gospel that we read about a traveler who was attacked by robbers and left for dead. A priest discovered the wounded man, but he elected to pass him by. Later, a Levite (a member of one of the tribes of Israel) also saw the man lying on the ground, and he too avoided him. But when a Samaritan — a member of a despised ethnic group — happened to come by, he bandaged up the injured stranger, checked him into a motel, and even prepaid the bill! 

The story’s two supposedly "good" people had a chance to help the helpless, but they went out of their way to do nothing. Instead, it was the Samaritan who found God's approval because he showed practical compassion to his neighbor (a stranger).

Although that's a lesson we all should learn and live by, helping neighbors and strangers is often a difficult proposition. We can let selfishness and pride become roadblocks. Moreover, when we avoid getting our hands dirty, we just might turn into one of those self-righteous characters in the story. And let's also consider a related question: How are we showing compassion to our fellow Christ-followers — not strangers — but rather other Believers?

The moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we become a member of an enormous family-of-faith spanning race, nationality, gender, and generation. We may be very different, but it's our faith in Christ that bridges the gap. We also share a common, eternal destiny with a loving Father. And he’s at the core of our very words, thoughts, and deeds.

It’s this truth that separates Christ-followers from everyone else on earth. And since the world is watching us and questioning our motives, it’s crucial that we live out our lives accordingly.

How can we do that? It’s by celebrating each other's triumphs, mourning each other's losses, and sacrificing our own selfish interests that we exhibit much more than transformed lives and ongoing spiritual growth. Above all, we must follow Jesus' example — one where “love” is an action-word rather than a feeling — and one lived out each day through a changed heart of compassion.