Dear Family and Friends,

It was about 20 years ago when I first encountered extreme poverty. My company had me travel to India to assess starting operations there. The poverty and absence of hope forever changed me.

The living conditions, in what was supposedly a modern high-tech city, was so hard to look at, I still carry images in my head. And don’t forget, I’m one who can’t remember what was for lunch yesterday.

I remember feeling so much compassion on that trip. The faces of the children begging in the streets so moved me, I gave them all the money in my pocket.

We have all seen or experienced something that moved our hearts and compelled us into action. The great tsunami in Tohoku moved several of our friends to become missionaries in Japan.

My question for us today is this: Hasn’t it been awhile since our hearts compelled us into action?

After two plus years of focusing primarily on ourselves, carefully guarding against exposure to a deadly disease, I want to gently remind us of Jesus’ second commandment, to love our neighbors.

Following His commandment to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Jesus said in Matthew 22:39 NIV, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Greek word translated into – like – is homoios which means of equal rank and authority. In other words, if the first commandment is the greatest, the second commandment is equally great. 

One of the ways we can love our neighbors is to care for them, to show compassion. Compassion means to not only feel what someone is feeling but doing something to help relieve their pain.

The Bible provides us many reasons to show compassion to those in need.

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs‬ ‭19:17‬ ESV

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts‬ ‭20:35‬ ESV

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13:16‬ ESV

So for those of us who took a two year break from outwardly expressing our love for others, how about we reignite the warmth in our hearts?

We can start by empathizing, by imagining ourselves in the place of others, and feeling what they are feeling.

Can you feel the pain of the families who are now burying the ones they loved – much too soon? The truth is the lives of these families are forever changed.

When loved ones are taken from us we lose not only a son, a daughter, a mother, a father, a husband, or a wife, we lose our dreams. Dreams of growing up or aging together. Dreams of our child becoming…

So, what are we to do? Will we allow our empathy to compel us into action?

If so, we must first overcome the lies that lurk deep within us. Lies that put others in our place rather than the other way around. Lies that cause us to judge, not empathize.

The unfortunate truth is we don’t know why people end up where they are. Nor do we know why people do what they do. And we’ll never know unless someone stops to ask how they are doing.

And until someone does ask, the senseless massacres will continue. The New York Times reports there have been 18 mass shootings, where three or more were killed, in the 21 weeks since the year began. And if you sense that the pace is accelerating, you’re right – it is.

As our nation comes to grip with the endless senseless violence, we who follow Christ can choose to do something.

In addition to helping the families of the victims, let’s remember that each one of these shooters was someone’s neighbor, a neighbor to us all according to Jesus. And there are more neighbors who are like them out there. 

We intuitively know that people who hurt others are themselves hurting. Those who senselessly kill others are dead to themselves. This pandemic is wreaking havoc in the minds of people, yet we are not seeing the damage until it’s too late.

There is a solution to all this. But it’s not found in gun rights or gun control.

The solution is the Gospel. It’s the good news that is Jesus.

Jesus is the only solution to what troubles our nation today. Jesus is the only One who can halt the work of the enemy.

Jesus is the One: Who calms the storms of life, Who loves the rejected, Who restores the broken, Who saves the lost, Who brings hope where there is none. 

My friends, today there are more Americans who do not know Jesus than ever before in our nation’s history. 

Those who are silently hurting and don’t know where to turn, or are searching for hope in all the wrong places.

Those who are waiting for your outpouring of compassion. 

In love always,