I was a young man in my early thirties, married with four daughters under six years old, and working a full-commissioned sales job. While grateful for the work, it barely made ends meet. Someone I knew told me of a company in an emerging industry that was hiring salespeople. This company was paying a salary plus commissions and would provide a real boost to our income.
I interviewed, got the job offer, and went to my current employer (this was a family business), whom I enjoyed working for, to let him know of the competitive offer. He cautioned me to be careful of entering an unproven industry. But he understood my desire to pursue more income and wished me well as I left.
Nine months later, our entire sales team was laid off. I was without employment and a paycheck to support my family. I feverishly searched for jobs. After a month, my former employer called me and said, “Hey, I heard. Do you need work?”
Humbled and broken, I said, “Yeah.” He replied, “I’ll cobble something together and ensure you have a full-time job and some income for your family.”
I didn’t listen to his counsel. I left him shorthanded. He, however, responded with compassion.
I did not need my boss to say, “See, I told you so.” I needed compassion. I knew I had made what turned out to be an unwise decision. I had learned a lesson. Now, I needed help.
Jesus taught His disciples this critical aspect of the Christian life with a story about a kind Samaritan man (Luke 10:25-37). While I was not left for dead at the side of a road, I was a man in very real need.
Sometimes we will walk by someone in need, and sometimes we will be the one in need. Jesus taught us to treat others as we would want to be treated:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:7-12 ESV).
But how many of us would be tempted to rebuke or give up on someone who did what I did to my boss? We have the glorious opportunity to reflect something of our Savior: His never-ending compassion. While the world needs strong men, it also needs compassionate men.
Be encouraged—living with a compassionate posture toward those around you will mean you are living out the heart of your Savior!