The local newspaper is filled with stories of people needing help. Just yesterday I read about someone’s home burning down; a gravely ill child needing funds to cover treatment; low-income students in need of school supplies; and abandoned children looking for new families.
The list seems endless because the stories we read today are replaced every news cycle by more stories of suffering. The pictures, horrors and over-stimulation of breaking news are numbing. It is easy to be overwhelmed with “compassion fatigue,” feeling that it is impossible to decide who and how to help.
Of course, we could choose to respond to the world’s needs as Ann Coulter suggested this week in her response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone: “Wouldn’t the wiser thing have been to stay home and work for good here? If Dr. Brantly could have turned one single Hollywood power-broker to Christ, he would have done more good for the entire world than anything he could accomplish in a century spent in Liberia.”
Thinking about this reminded me of “A Guide for the Perplexed,” written by the 12^th century Jewish philosopher and scholar Maimonides. He wrote the book to help people understand the spirit of the law at that time.
We also have a written guide, the Bible. Although there is no set formula for understanding, the Bible does have guidelines to help us in making life’s decisions, including how to avoid becoming hardened and bewildered by the suffering in our world.
I’d like to suggest a few things quickly:
Helping is not optional. We can easily lapse into weariness in well-doing, but helping is not optional. We are commanded many times to “love the brotherhood deeply.”
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:8 )
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:16 )
So, who is my brother I am to love deeply? Is it everyone on earth? Is it just Christians? There are more than two billion Christians in the world, and many have dire needs, not to mention the persecution they endure.
Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? (James 2:14)
We are to be loving but not anxious – including anxiety about how much we can do.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7)
This means our anxiety about compassion as well. We are not to be, as Oswald Chambers puts it, “amateur providences” feeling  responsible for the entire well-being of the world.
To begin any other place is to guarantee frustration, dissatisfaction and disillusionment. I’ve always liked what Edmund Burke said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Our wisdom is distinctly different from the wisdom of the world. Our wisdom is the Holy Spirit.
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13)
Sometimes our desire to make a difference is nothing more than a form of selfish ambition, but God-given discernment and generosity lead naturally to good deeds done in humility.
God trusts us with his gifts, which he gives to us to serve others.
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (I Peter 4:7-10)
We have been trusted with the property of another – not to hoard or be a spendthrift – but to use what we have been given in ways that are pleasing to the owner.  God knows we will not be perfect and we will make mistakes, but he trusts us enough to allow room for that. In fact, he more than allows. He expects it.
Fear of condemnation or punishment is never God’s motivation for us anywhere in our lives – including how we help others.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” (1 John 4:18)
The giving most pleasing to God is that which begins with spiritual wisdom from God and ends with thanksgiving to God.
“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:12)
You could say that 2 Corinthians 9 is the ultimate test in giving. God does not want us to be anxious – just responsible. He wants us to give out of our knowledge that whatever we do, the result will not just give relief or “make an impact,” but will bring thanksgiving to him.
Begin where you are and with the brothers and sisters most near. Love deeply there and see where it leads.