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 to someone who was unable to read for themselves?
Encouraged someone who was having a hard time in life?
Every one of us can do something compassionate to encourage someone else.
But how far will our compassion go?
One of my favorite stories is the one where four friends pick up their paralyzed friend to get him to the One they heard is a healer. They’ve heard of this miracle worker and probably even knew someone else He has healed. So they go to their friend, tell him the plan, and start making their way to the house where the miracle man is supposed to be. They weren’t going to let anything stop them, because they knew that this Healer could change their friend’s life.
But when they arrived they couldn’t get in the door.
So they ripped through the roof.
What?
Seriously?
They tore up another person’s home to get their friend to this healer?
They must have truly believed this was going to work to be willing to go to that extreme.
What would have happened if I was holding one corner of the mat? Or if you were?
Would we have told our friend that we’d try to bring him to Jesus another day?
When our other friend said – “Hey, let’s go get some rope and some tools and we’ll rip through the roof and lower him down to the Healer!”, Would you have said – “No way, we can’t destroy this guy’s house. We’ll have to fix it or pay to have it repaired. Let’s just come back another day.”?
Or would you have been the first one to grab an axe to start busting a hole in the roof?
I think it all depends on how much we believe that this Healer, Jesus, can change lives.
If we truly believe Jesus can change the life of our friend, then we are much more likely to go to any cost to get them to Jesus. Even if it means destroying someone’s physical property to get our friend the healing that he needs.
But it might be that we examine our own lives and realize that we don’t seem changed that much, so is it really that important to get others to Jesus? We can do it later, and even if we don’t… then what does it really matter? If we have not been radically changed by the Healer… if we have not become new creatures because of what Jesus has done in our lives… then we will not be very passionate about getting others to Jesus.
We are passionate about music, we are passionate about the vehicles we drive, we are passionate about sports, we are passionate about politics, we are passionate about making money. When are we going to get passionate about the only treasure that we can take with us when we die… other people?
When will we become compassionate about those for whom God is passionate and wants to heal?
When will we believe that God really can (and does) change lives?
What do you think… How can someone get and keep the type of compassion the four friends had?