A Meditation on Compassion

I left the Church for about 3 years because of events leading up to the I raq War, the war, and differences in politics that I felt affected both ideology and theology. During that period I found myself highly critical of certain denominations. I would often say things to the effect of: this Church only believes in the gospel of money, or a Church that supports murder (the war) is a Church that has wondered far away from God, or a Church that ignores poverty is ignoring the Bible and therefore God. A couple of years later, I wonder why it took me so long to become more loving…and to lose my harsh attitude towards other Christians. As I continue to work on this, I thought writing this blog as a meditation on the importance of compassion would help me with this…

A few years ago a good Christian friend of mine said to me “You need to lighten up in regards to your rhetoric against….” To be honest I remember thinking he was brain-washed and that he had truly bought into the false Christianity that permeates capitalist America. In retrospect, I think that I honestly enjoyed tearing others down with my more “socially responsible” theology. I’ve shifted a lot since then. I still have a long way to go in loving others and showing grace, but sometimes I wonder what kept me so long with a spirit of judgment, instead of love and leadership.

The fact is, it was pride. One of the things that the Bible teaches against the most is pride:

Matthew 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

I think that I honestly believed that I would bring enlightenment to those that thought differently than me through criticism and harsh judgment, when in reality this just pushes people away. I now realize that it is only God that can bring about this Enlightenment and His main tool for this is through love, compassion, encouragement, especially through the use of Christians. Of course, God can use judgment and tough rhetoric for change, but I think that where I have changed the most over the last few years is that I refuse to go that root unless I am sure that is what God is guiding me towards. I am now a full believer that judgment and criticism should only come directly through God’s guidance.

An example of this has been my view of Wal-mart and people who shop there. I have strong opinions about how socially destructive Walmart is and think that they have played a large role in the break down of the family in the United States. I think a quick explanation is in order here:

By making people work for almost nothing, no benefits, and driving competition so intensely, creating a survival-of-the-fittest form of social Darwinism, that other companies have been forced to follow their example or be eliminated (Thousands of US factories have had to move overseas within two years of signing a contract with Walmart) – I think that all of these things have contributed to the current state of the workplace where the Average American works 47 hours a week – yeah, that is right, the Average American works 47 hours a week— which deteriorates the family structure. After all, countries that have lower workweeks (Like France, average 32 hours a week) have lower divorce rates, lower crime rates, lower rates of unwed mothers, etc. Anyways, the fact is for a large portion of the past ten years I have harshly criticized Walmart and anyone I knew that shops there. Luckily, that has changed.

In looking back at those years of harsh criticism, I realize one thing- I cannot think of one mind that I had changed through all of that time. That fact completely shocked me. Over the past year and a half, I have completely changed my outlook. I now do not judge others for shopping there – knowing that my sins are much worse than theirs (I have to say I have extreme view that shopping there is a sin, although I admit that I could be wrong and I do not normally advertise this view) – I merely pray for them and lead by example. I also focus on getting to know people and loving them rather than judging them for their actions (at least I try my best to). I have to say that I have now noticed a big change in results as well. I can think of well over ten people off-hand that either do not shop there or shop there less because of knowing me and what this cause means to me. In other words, through patience, love, humility and understanding, God has revealed himself to them and answered my prayers. For me, this has been a much more effective approach to affecting people and would urge others to trust God more in the areas like this that are important to them, whatever they may be.

Of course, this outlook is one of the most difficult things for me to adhere to because of my pride. I often struggle when I see Christians living in a very non-Christian manner, or being extremely hypocritical, but now I take the perspective that we are all sinners, so I should deal with their sin in the way that I would want others to deal with my sin – through care, encouragement, understanding, and most of all trusting in God.