GOT COMPASSION?

If a person is suffering and I feel for them, I am said to be empathetic. But if I am moved to help alleviate the person's pain, I take it to the next level and show compassion.

That's what the Good Samaritan did. Wiki says compassion is considered to be one of the greatest virtues. Yet regarding compassion toward the poor, not everyone can agree on just what that looks like.

There are many good-willed people that feel empathy for the poor. Some perhaps feel giving to the poor is best accomplished by government. They would not be against higher taxes because they feel giving to the poor is an appropriate use of their tax money.

I wonder what they think as they look across at people in another party with opposing views. Maybe it looks like compassion-deficit over here.

It is a timely question to answer: what does it mean to show true compassion toward the poor?

Back in the early 90's, Mike and I volunteered at a housing project called Eastgate Terrace. There were 178 units there, and our church had an outreach called the STEP program (Serving to Equip People). STEP was a neighborhood outreach that began with a ministry to children.

They added a mentor program in the schools to be able to keep up with the children's academic needs. There were summer clubs (like Vacation Bible School) and throughout the school year, STEP maintained clubs that had components of mentoring, homework, Bible study, and fun.

The program was always evolving in order to meet needs, but there were certain fixed guidelines. The guardrails were based on biblical principles. I learned a lot while serving with STEP, and it challenged all my preconceived ideas about what compassion was...or was not.

*Because Christ loves us as we are (and not because of what we do for Him), the STEP worker was to come alongside the children and give of themselves in a relationship...just as the Lord does. One-on-one time communicates huge concepts.

*Because Christ values people over things, the STEP worker was not to buy for the children. STEP had limited funding for family emergencies so that help could come from the organization, but not from individuals. Money can corrupt relationships.

*Because Christ said that His Word was to be a light to our path, the STEP worker helps a child learn to study Scripture and recognize God's direction as they pray to ask the Lord to meet their needs. Money pales alongside the opportunity to

be a part of connecting a soul to God.

*Because Christ spoke about the value of work and accountability and dependability...the STEP worker lets the kids know that coming to their club meetings (on time and regularly) is their "work" and their faithfulness will

result in a field trip at the end of the month.

But this felt so foreign. I'm used to meeting my own needs. It would be the most natural thing for me to whip out plastic when a child needed tennis shoes. It was actually excruciating to not provide. Greater lessons were being learned on both sides of the relationship.

There is no way that money can fill the hole in these people's lives. They need dignity, respect, a sense of accomplishment, friendship, and importantly, hope....along with their need of economic opportunity.

Now perhaps you are thinking that this is a nice little program and it is possible because someone else is actually providing the chunk of change. I agree that there is a place for SOME government financial help. But government help has whopperjawed to the point that it harms more than it helps. Throwing money over a fence at people may SEEM compassionate. Americans are glad something is being done to alleviate suffering. They know suffering is present and they want to help. But from our years at Eastgate, we had a unique perspective of the harm done.

When President Johnson began his Great Society, it seemed like a good idea. But the Great Society decimated the black family. It brought a generation of single mothers (which of itself aggravates poverty). It brought population density which wrought crime and violence onto neighborhoods. It made the black male a phantom propagator. It brought victimhood and poverty and anger and slothfulness and addictions. On "check day" you can add fighting and stealing.

One party in national politics claims high ground on this issue. By shoveling money at the problem, they are supposedly "compassionate". But as you look at Detroit or New Orleans or Chicago (cities with the same party leadership for thirty years or more), you cannot tout "better lives" for all that money dropped in. Instead, it created a permanent underclass. And then the residents vote the party line and perpetuate their refugee camp status, while thinking someone is helping them.

So why doesn't the system work? Much of poverty legislation contradicts biblical principles. Can something be virtuous, yet not God-honoring? What does God have to say about work? Would He pay someone not to work? In His economy, work is the way a person provides (gives up his life) for his family. Work provides a place of influence to share Christ...and provides money to support God's work.

Work builds self-worth and satisfaction and perseverance and a sense of contribution and identity. We are all familiar with 1Thess. 3.10 "If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat." Work is part of God's design for our lives.

What about paying a woman's expenses if she has children? That has negated a man's place of family headship. Would God go for that one? What has paying single women to have kids led to? If you are black, you are more likely to be in a single parent home than a home with two parents. You therefore automatically will have a harder chance to "make it". Again, not compassionate.

OK, so if I'm so smart...what is the answer? Well, I like what Rick Warren has said. He points out that America has sent piles of money to Africa for relief. Has it helped? No. Why? It doesn't get there. Corrupt dictatorships siphon it off. It gets clear across the ocean, and then within a few miles from the target, it is diverted. So, let's think. Our money mostly gets to the target in America, but it doesn't help. Our money does not get to the Africans, so that isn't working, either. WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

Well, Warren suggests something that would work in America or Africa. But woohoo! It will make some folks who have excused God from the public equation REALLY uncomfortable. Warren points out that structure is already in place all over the world for meeting needs. It's the church. They are local, therefore they know the people. They know who is shucking the system and who is really needy. They are already set up so the wheel does not have to be reinvented. They have a heart and can come alongside the money with people to build relationships. And that is the "one-to-one" that is KEY to making it work...just like the Good Samaritan.

Now do I really think in this day and time of "separation of church and state" that such a model will ever be tried? Probably not. This side of heaven things are not ideal. Our home now is a broken system that we work within...in order to have influence for Him. But let's face it. Heaven is our real home. That is where things will be set right.

America is sitting on the precipice of viewing government as our provider/caretaker...then master. Government was NEVER to be our Savior or Deliverer or Master. That role is taken. Looking to anything other than God has always had serious repercussions.

"The Lord alone is God - there is no other besides Him." Deuteronomy 4.35 NET