A few years back, I went to a store late at night. It was nearly empty and it’s employees were ready to start their closing duties. Right before I left, I decided to use the restroom and on my way out, I happened to hear a faint, weak voice. With no one around and my inability to hear what the voice was saying, I investigated. As I continued to look around, it became clearer that there was someone unable to get up and mustering up all of their energy to plead for help. I stepped back into the restroom and checked under the stalls. I came upon a disabled man lying on the floor with blood on his face. Now, I’m not the most athletic man in the world, but the moment I saw him, I jumped over the stall in an effort to help in any way possible. The gentleman was profusely apologizing and explained than he’d been unable to get anyone’s attention for hours. 

My point in telling this story is not to score superhero points. As a matter of fact, the moment I heard the voice, I almost tried to convince myself I didn’t hear anything at all. I drove home and broke down into tears thinking about this difficulty in life that I hadn’t previously considered or ever had to overcome. I was also thinking about a scenario in which I hadn’t been there and no one came to help that man. From that moment, I started going down a list of all the areas of my life where I encountered people going through troubles too complicated for me to get involved in; I began thinking about the times in my life that I deferred from helping someone because I felt inadequate to solve or fix a situation. It was then that I realized that you don’t need special training in order to help someone. If you’ve got Jesus in your heart, you’re qualified to help. You don’t need to be an expert to show compassion. Romans 9 in the Message version puts it like this: “love from the center of who you are, don’t fake it.” Don’t step back if things get complicated. Rather, lean in. Consider the types of hurt people experience and love from the center of who you are.