Tue 4 Apr
What you gonna do about it?
‘WHEN HE SAW THE CROWDS, HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM…’ MATTHEW 9:36 NIV
During WWII while visiting a missionary school outside Tibet, Bob Pierce noticed a little girl on the steps. She was malnourished, ragged, and her eyes revealed a lifetime of suffering. When he asked about her, one of the teachers said, ‘Oh, she sits there every day. She wants to attend school but we’ve no room.’ Troubled, Pierce replied, ‘Can’t you make room for just one more?’ The teacher replied, ‘We’ve made room fo “just one more” so often that our food’s stretched to the limit. We’ve got to draw the line somewhere.’ Refusing to accept this brutal reality, Pierce exclaimed, ‘A child needing help shouldn’t be turned away. Why isn’t something being done?’ Quietly the teacher picked the little girl up, plunked her in Pierce’s arms, and asked, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ That day Bob Pierce reached into his pocket to buy rice for one little girl, and it led to the founding of World Vision which is now a massive international relief agency!
When you don’t look at suffering, walking past it becomes easier until eventually you don’t notice. The Bible says that when Jesus, ‘Saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.’ Looking at the needs around you can sometimes be overwhelming, but remember, they come one person at a time. Because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you can’t do something. What can you do? Remember the widow’s few pence in Luke 21? And the loaves and fishes Jesus multiplied in Matthew 14? When you give what you have, God multiplies it and miracles happen!
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