We live in a time in which we have access to an unprecedented amount of information. Our news feeds update by the minute, and our social networks give us up-to-the-second information from all over the world. Never before has our globe felt so small. Never before has information moved so fast. And never before have we been exposed to so much need.
In many ways, our perspectives have become far more global and far less local. I was looking at my news feed yesterday and I realized something that struck me: I follow several global and national news feeds, and my feed is full of global events, national conversations, and things that are happening thousands of miles from where I live. You know what I was not following in my news app? A LOCAL NEWS FEED. I live in San Antonio, TX, and you would not have been able to know that from the news that consume each day. That is crazy! But, the reality is that many of us are far more familiar and more passionate about global issues than we are about the things that are going on in our own communities. In other words, many of you could tell me more about the Venezuelan elections or about your opinions of the new president of France, than you could about your own city’s Mayor. That is a crazy thought, isn’t it?
Our perspectives have widened as technology has made our world seem smaller, and this reality has impacted our lives in so many ways; both positively and negatively. But, one of the most challenging aspects that has resulted from our global perspective is something called compassion fatigue.
And this only makes sense, right? Never before have we been exposed to this much, and it is heartbreaking to consider the scope of global need! If you allowed yourself to truly feel the hurt and the needs of every news story that you see today, you would be absolutely overwhelmed, depressed, and discouraged. Like a built-in personal defense mechanism protecting you from going crazy, your mind protects itself from the potentially overwhelming needs that you encounter. In order to remain sane, we develop the ability to navigate through life without becoming overwhelmed by it all. As a result, we are facing compassion fatigue like never before. And this is a problem.
Now, I am not recommending that you begin to sink into despair with every news story that you read. I am also not recommending that you stop reading the news all together. But, we do need to develop the ability to engage with the needs around us in a health way. For any follower of Christ, this ability is crucial as we seek to live out our faith. We must engage.
But how?
Start with Prayer.
Compassion begins in prayer. As we begin to look around and see the needs all around us, we understand that God has given us gifts, talents, and resources that He wants to use in us. Prayer is when we are align our hearts with His. Prayer is when God can confirm His call on our lives toward certain needs. Prayer is when we can grow in our capacity to care for the needs around us.
The reality is that our God is love. He is compassion. And, if we desire to grow in our compassion toward the world around us, it must start at the Source. Compassion starts with prayer, because our God is compassion.
So start by coming to him asking specifically:
- Would You show me the things in my community that break Your heart, and then would You break my heart for them as well
- Would You show me the needs that I can meet, and then would You show what of my resources that You would like to use to meet those needs?
- Would You give me Your eyes to see my community the way You do?
Start where you live.
As simple as this sounds, it is a good idea to start local. Start by opening your eyes to the needs that are directly in front of you. Start by loving where you live and caring for your zip code. Chances are that you will not need to look long to discover the needs that are in your own backyard.
Now, don’t hear me wrong. There are many times when we will need to engage in meeting global needs. Praise God that we are able to reach far beyond our community with the gospel and with the love of Christ. But, lets not forget, we have been placed by God in our community, our school, our office, our neighborhood for a specific reason. If we continually look beyond our community for the needs in another community, we may miss the many needs that are in front of us, the needs that are most accessible to us, and the needs that we can more effectively address than anyone else. In other words, if you don’t care your community, who else will?
So, let us engage in global needs, but not in exclusion of our local needs. Let us start where we live!
Start with One.
There is no way that you are going to be able to meet every need that you encounter. This reality can cause us to do one of two things.
First, it could cause us to try to meet every need. It can cause us to spread ourselves out and exhaust ourselves by trying to run in all directions while going nowhere. This is an unhealthy approach.
Or second, it can cause us to do nothing. We can think, “Well since I can’t meet all of this need, I might as well do nothing.” We can be overwhelmed and shut down. Of course, this is also an unhealthy approach.
Neither of these responses are healthy, and there is another way; Do for one what you wish you could do for many. You may have heard this saying before, but it is such a valuable principle! We must find a need in our lives and we allow ourselves to be given fully to it, and we must pour ourselves out to meet this one need. Of course, you will not be able to treat every need like this that you encounter, and that is ok. The fact that we can’t do everything should not stop you from doing everything that we can for something. We should do everything that we can to meet the need of the one.