Chapter Two

Compassion

Every year the youth ministry Teen Mania puts on large events all over the country called Acquire the Fire. One year they performed a practical and moving illustration. The speaker took a goldfish out of its bowl, let it flop around on the table, stepped back, and let the seconds tick away. Eventually, someone in the audience would run up on stage and put the fish back in the water. They couldn't stand to watch a goldfish suffer and die.

If we had to sit and watch one of the 30,000 children who die every day during their last agonizing hour of life, perhaps we would rise up and save them. Unfortunately, we don't see them. For years I kept a picture of an emaciated child in the front cover of my Bible where I saw it every day. Unpleasant? Perhaps, but useful in maintaining a focus on the reality of our world. “Out of sight, out of mind” is certainly true concerning the hundreds of millions of desperate people around the globe. It is interesting that, “When Jesus landed and saw the large crowd, He had compassion on them” (Mark 6:34). We must keep the tragic suffering of the world before our eyes. A picture of a starving child on our refrigerator might even help our diet.

According to a profile in Christianity Today, Tony Campolo would often begin a speech this way: "I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."¹⁸ Campolo is right. Which upsets you more, the fast that I printed this quote on our website, or the fact that 30,000 children died yesterday from preventable causes?

Think how upset we were at the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. It was and continues to be tragic. But compare the 2000 people who lost their lives in Katrina with the 30,000 children who die every day from preventable poverty-related causes. There are 15 Katrina-sized disasters happening every day. If it were possible, would we have prevented the hurricane? Of course! We have the resources to stop the 15 daily “Katrinas” -- if we are willing. The task is huge, but we have a big God.

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20 (emphasis mine)

John F. Kennedy’s quote is famous because it is powerful. “There are those who look at the way things are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Let’s save millions of children. Why not?

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Compassion