What if we all treated each other as if we were encountering Christ? When you look at Matthew 25, the power of that story is the way Jesus responds to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the poor. He responds with a compassion that reveals itself in action.
The disciples ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” And Jesus replies, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
What was Jesus known for? He stood out because of his love and compassion. Religious leaders of the day judged him, politicized his actions, and chastised his healings, teachings, and his actions because of how he treated the poor, the sick, the hurting, and the outcast. Many people during Jesus day didn’t even see the poor as a fellow human worthy of anything. But Jesus came and had compassion on us all.
Scripture tells us in Romans that there is something in us as believers-a sense of God, that ability to acknowledge who He is-and that in us we find the same compassion that Christ offers. Think about the times Jesus was moved to compassion…. It wasn’t only the fact that he reached out to people and empathized with them in their hurting, but he was moved to action on their behalf.
Think of where you have learned true compassion. Jesus models it all throughout his life and it is counter-intuitive to the culture of his time and even ours now. But is there someone in your life who taught you compassion? Someone whom you’ve watched model it? Someone who showed you the blessings of reaching outside of yourself and helping others in need? Are you that person for someone else?
I learned about compassion from my mother. She was always inviting others to our home, sharing what little we had with those who had even less. My mom showed me that true compassion is more than feeling emotion for someone or something, but being moved to action because of it.
And who is modeling compassion to your children? Is it being cultivated in your family? If you, like me, had a parent who demonstrated compassion, it is a blessed gift indeed. But not all of us have had this virtue passed down to us. One of the reasons we have family camp at Amor is because we believe in a family serving together and exposing young children to compassion in action.
This is why compassion is one of our core values, but it goes deeper than that. Why do we bring our participants to the Amor camp and host them in authentic, campground conditions? Because we want people to live and work like the families we serve-to feel the discomfort of a dirt floor, to feel the rough elements, to walk in the shoes of the families we serve, even if just for one week, and to understand and relate to the poor in Mexico.
Starting on day one of an Amor mission trip, we mix cement by hand on the ground. We don’t mix cement with power tools or cement mixers because it is not about us building a house better or faster. It is about identifying with the poor, understanding their situation, relating with them in their need. For one week of a person’s life, we want them to identify with the poor in a way that they never have before. You truly experience compassion for someone when you can identify with them, just as Jesus came purposefully to identify with us and meet us in our need.
My mother taught me that whenever I was going through something difficult in my life, go out and do something for someone else. In serving others, my own trials didn’t seem so big or heavy. We must guard against wallowing in self-centeredness because we may miss out on the joy that compassion brings once we reach outside of ourselves.
When I was 23 years old, I served at an orphanage in Mexico and lived on $50 a month. When an impoverished woman asked for help to buy milk, it was a no-brainer to give to her out of what I had because she needed something I could give, though I had little.
Dean Mathis, a dear friend who started family camp, once shared a story with me that epitomizes the selfless act of compassion: He shared about a time when he was in Mexico at the garbage dumps and came upon a father who was feeding his child slop (all he could find to keep his family alive) from a garbage bin. Dean was taking pictures at the time when his eyes met this man’s, and he had compassion on him NOT to take the picture and to allow this man to keep the dignity that he had in trying to keep his family alive. Instead of using this situation as a public humiliation of this man for gain, he chose to make a difference in the life of this man, having compassion on him he put himself in this man’s shoes as a father.
I challenge you to purposefully choose to put yourself in a position where you have to live out compassion and look at where you first learned it. Why? Because I know there are days that I don’t want to help someone. It’s easy to ignore the needs of others when we live in a culture where we can screen our calls and choose to walk the other way. But what did Jesus do? He went out of his way to have compassion on people. Look at the woman at the well. Jews would go around Samaria to avoid the Samaritans but Jesus went straight through Samaria and spoke directly to this woman, defying once again everything people knew.
People come to know who Jesus is because they see him through our lives and how we treat them and each other. At Amor Ministries, we choose to come and identify with the poor because we want to have the compassion that Christ chose to first have on us.
We need to stop asking churches and people, “What do you have to offer me?” Instead we should ask, “What do I have to offer you?” Our focus should not be on ourselves and our selfish desires. When it is, we miss the very thing Christ embodied-compassion for others that drives you to do something.
Compassion is when our heart breaks for the things that break the heart of God. Compassion is when we see people the way Christ sees them-no judgment, no ridicule, no invisibility-and to be moved to be the difference for someone.
By Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO of Amor Ministries
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