Compassion

Extinction. Orphans. HIV. Starvation.

These words are rarely reality to most of Western civilization, yet they are scrolling through my mind. These four foreign words seem to be just that. A Foreign problem. Where they were formerly foreign, they are now a reality that surrounds me.

Swaziland is a country in need. In need of Life, Family, Hope. A peaceful people, I sometimes forget the current status without natives around me, screaming in my face the things they are facing…”MY CHILD WILL GO TO SLEEP HUNGRY,” “MY BROTHER IS DYING AND LEAVING HIS ORPHANS TO ME, A WIDOW” “I AM THE LAST ADULT IN MY HOMESTEAD,” “WHY’D MY PARENTS DIE,” “IT”S NOT RIGHT FOR MY 7 Year old TO BE RAISING MY NEWBORN,” “I WANT HELP BUT DON’T KNOW WHO CAN HELP.” “WHAT’S HOPE?”

Easy to forget those who are peaceful, asking God to keep my heart soft and sensitive to the compassion He has for these people is a constant plea.

While health care and education are vital, there is nothing that replaces sharing the hope that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25:35-36 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

John 6:35 “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The gospel is wholistic and realistic in that it addresses physical as well as spiritual neediness. While the need for Christ surpasses the need for food, it’s important for me to remember that Christ had compassion on the physically poor.