A Fork & 2 Paths

Have you ever been on Facebook, looked at your friends' photos, (from their summer vacation, trip to Europe, pub nights at college, etc), and had your eyes opened to the fact they are likely hurting, broken people?

When we encounter a situation like that, I think (as Christians) we can react in one of two ways.

A fork in the road, with 2 paths to choose from.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of a deeply religious man who goes to the temple to pray. To his left he sees a tax collector and begins to thank God that he is not a cheat, a liar, an adulterer like the man off to his side. In other words, he begins to condemn the tax collector and by comparison believes he is justified before God. He sees the brokenness in this tax collector's life and looks down on him with a 'holier than him' attitude.

Contrast that to the story in Mark 6. Jesus had been so busy touring that he and his disciples hadn't even had time to eat. He suggested they get away to some place quiet so they could rest and recharge. But as they got in the boat to head out to Tranquility Island Resort & Spa, the crowd on shore began to follow them. His disciples told him to tell the crowd to head into town and leave them alone, after-all  they were tired from being preaching rockstars. The Bible tells us Jesus had compassion on the lost and broken people, so he got out of the boat and fed the 5,000 with some bread and a couple fish.

Quite the contrast. The first guy looked down on the lost and broken guy beside him, while Jesus had compassion.

So how about you? When you see those Facebook albums filled with evidence of poor choices, how do you see the person?

Do you look down on their behavior? Maybe even judge them?

Or do you look at those photos and feel compassion for a lost, hurting and broken person?