What if I don’t feel compassion? Do I still witness?

Sometimes folks worry that they are being hypocritical to share their faith if they are not feeling compassion for the lost. I understand that dilemma. It’s very real and very perplexing.

Maybe this analogy will give some hope. Can you imagine a firefighter going up the ladder to the second story of a home where a fire is raging. At the window is a mother with her baby, anxiously waiting for the fireman to bring them to safety. Half way up, he stops and says to himself, “You know, I really have no feeling for these people. I’d really rather be at home with my children and my wife. What am I doing? What a hypocrite I am. There’s no way I can, in integrity, save these people.” Then, he goes back down the ladder. We would scream in protest, wouldn’t we? “Hey, Mr. Fireman, it doesn’t matter how you are feeling, those people are in danger. Get up that ladder and rescue them!”

In a similar way, the folks around us who are lost are in need of rescue. Should we pray for a heart full of compassion and tenderness? By all means! But the reality remains, regardless of our feelings, that these dear people are in great need. This helps me as I continue to cry out for God to give me His compassion and a heart full of tenderness. I must go and obey my Master as He continues in His mission to seek and to save the lost.

How about you?  Do you struggle with having compassion for the lost?  Does it discourage you from witnessing?   Let me know what you think.  It would help me and others who are reading these posts.  Let’s get a dialogue going, okay?