Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another.  Colossians 3:16a

 

Are you ever surprised by people?  Do you ask yourself what makes one person sensitive and caring, and another harsh and insensitive when both have grown up in the same environment?  If you’ve ever read Victor Frankl, the psychiatrist who was sent to a concentration camp in Germany, you’ll marvel at the fact the same situation turns some people into blood‑thirsty, selfish animals and others into caring, compassionate individuals who are almost saintly.

What can turn a selfish, uncaring human being into a compassionate, sensitive person who can empathize with others?  There’s one thing for certain:  an encounter with a loving, caring individual can change a person’s life.  Such were the experiences of those who encountered Jesus Christ when he was here on earth.

Notice how the lives of people were changed when Jesus touched them.  Consider some of these:  Mary Magdalene, a woman who seemed intent on self‑destruction, driven by demons.  Zacchaeus, who became willing to return four‑fold what he had extorted from people.  Matthew, who was willing to walk away from a lucrative position to follow the Master.  All of these were people who stopped making themselves their primary focus of existence and actually learned to care deeply about others.

Their encounter with Jesus Christ changed the focus of their lives from solely pleasure seeking to care and compassion for others.  In simple terms, compassion and care are highly contagious, but they can be caught only by direct contact with someone who has them.

No individual in all of history has transformed the lives of so many people and given them the ability to care, as has Jesus Christ.  “But I know somebody who says he is a Christian, and he’s not a very caring person,” you may say.  And I grant you, based on the hundreds of messages we’ve received over the years, a lot of you are living with people whose encounter with Jesus hasn’t much changed their ability to care for others; on a compassion meter, their actions wouldn’t even register.  How can we explain that?

Let’s consider two things: (1)  First, as C.S. Lewis said, the real test is not necessarily what a person is now but what they would have been had they not encountered faith in Christ, and (2) Remember that God impacts our lives only to the degree that we allow him to penetrate our hearts.

One of the words translated “compassion” in the New Testament is a word that refers to our inner being, or viscera.  Caring comes from a changed heart, and when your inner‑most being is still seething in anger and hatred, the ability to care is stifled or non‑existent.

In closing, may I ask you a tough question?  How much do you care?  About your spouse, your family, your parents, your colleagues at work, your classmates, your friends?  As long as “self” reigns king, you’ll never touch the lives of anyone with compassion because selfishness must give way to concern and concern to care and care to compassion.  It’s a cycle that begins when you wake up and realize there are others who count besides yourself.

Just before he faced the cross, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: “…love one another, even as I have loved you…” (John 13:34-5). It takes time.  It will cost you, but living out a life of care for others is what attracts them to Christ.

 

Resource Reading:  Romans 12:9-21