Photo taken by my son, Matthew Rockwell, after the Nepal earthquake.  His compassion has moved him to form Nepal Grassroots Recovery.  Check it out on Facebook.

You have a tender heart. You see a need and take action.  You have compassion.

You have a closed heart. You see a need BUT take no action.  You lack compassion.

Why do you lack compassion?

1. You don’t have enough time.
2. You don’t have enough resources.
3. You don’t know where or how to begin.
4. You don’t want someone to take advantage of you.
5. You don’t want to enable bad choices.

Are these valid reasons or mere excuses?

1. The Good Samaritan stopped what he was doing and made time to help.
2. The Good Samaritan used the resources he had available at the time.
3. The Good Samaritan took the first step, and then another and then another.
4. The Good Samaritan gave without thought of repayment.
5. The Good Samaritan gave without thought of worthiness.

Compassion is first a matter of the heart.  Is your heart tender or hard?  When you see a need, do you desire to help?

You cannot meet every need you see.  If you think you can, you are not really seeing the people around you.  You have limited amounts of time, energy and resources at your disposal.  But that is not an excuse to do nothing.

Instead of thinking about what you don’t have, think about what you do have.  Are you generous with your time?  Are you generous with your resources?  or do you spend all your time and resources on yourself and your family?  If you’re not generous with what you do have, you’ll never be generous with what you hope to have.

An open heart leads to open hands.

It is never convenient to serve others.  It always takes time and resources.

So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Colossians 3:12