Compassion and the Gospel.

Compassion is at the Heart of the Gospel.

Compassion could be said to be a Buddhist doctrine but it also runs through the heart of Christianity as well. There is the famous passage of the rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke, where the rich man had more than enough wealth and food but refused to share it with the poor man who used to beg at his gate. They both died, and the poor man was taken by the Angels to paradise, while the rich man ended up in torments in hell. God's justice is that when there is suffering on earth, He does't immediately make up for it by making all those who suffer with poverty rich. The poor man's poverty in this story was not as some think a curse of God, the poor man had all the chances to succeed in his life as the rich man, but God in His providence saw something that we humans don't see, and that is the eternal outcome for our choices on earth and how we treat others less fortunate than we are!

Yes Jesus said you will always have the poor with you, but what we don't see is that Almighty God is watching us. In the parable, the rich man had remorse that he did't do God's will on earth, and even begged that Father Abraham would send the now dead Lazarus back to earth from his place in Heaven to warn his family. Salvation must have fruit and part of our eternal destiny is a result not just of our faith, but how we treated the poor. The poor are made in the image of God, and God warns against shutting your ears to their cries. The bible says that when you do this God won't hear your cries for help when you need God, and he goes even further to say that when you oppress the poor you show contempt for your Maker. Countries stand or fall based on how they treated the poor, so you can understand why the rich man was in torment in Hell. In his life on earth he refused to help the needy, and shut his ears to them.

Jesus lives in the poor, and one of the judgements on judgement day is how we treated them. What you did to the least of these you did it to me, or what you failed to do, you didn't do it to me. Sins of omission can send people to hell. God is fair in His judgement, to have an intention to help but not the means or capacity will be taken into account. If you are just sinful and indifferent to the poor, and maybe you don't even believe the bible, your judgement will be worse because you knew what you should have done, and you did the opposite, which is sin. This is Mike.

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