Compassionate Action

Give me Your eyes for just one second . . . Give me Your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing . . . Give me Your eyes for humanity . . . Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted . . . Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten . . . Lord, give me Your eyes.

I couldn't tell you how many times I have prayed for the Lord to give me His eyes and His heart for those His heart breaks over. It truly is the desire of my heart to love my neighbors as the Lord would have me to love them. To see their hurt and their need. To have compassion as Jesus has compassion.

But this week, I was struck with a thought as I read through parts of Matthew. Often times, we read about Jesus having compassion on those He encounters - but He just doesn't feel compassion and leave it at that:

"A leper came to Him and bowed down before Him and said, 'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, 'I am willing; be cleansed." - Matthew 9:2-3 (emphasis mine)

Now when Jesus heard about John [death], He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick." - Matthew 14:13-14 (emphasis mine)

Did you catch that? Jesus did indeed feel compassion, but Jesus also put that compassion into action. As believers, we must be willing to act - not just to feel compassionate. It's like having faith without works: faith without works is dead, so perhaps we can say that compassion without action is dead too.

I will continue to pray for the Lord to give me His eyes and His heart for the lost, hurting, and needy. However, my prayer has now extended to include, "Lord, give me the boldness and courage that You have to show compassion to those that need it."