Love or Compassion for the Lost ?
Intro:
Who was ever more lost than this guy Chuck Noland, in the movie Cast
Away. Not long ago I heard an evangelist preaching about spiritually lost people. His challenge to his audience was for us to
ask (30) people a (7) word question: Would
You Study the Bible with Me? Inspired
by this, I wrote down some thoughts and devised a 'movie therapy' lesson
exploring this concept.
First, some Q & A about sharing your faith with someone who is
lost i.e., someone who needs to find God:
Q. Why would we consider
doing such a thing, this sharing of our faith in God?
A. Because we love the lost!
Q How many of us
actually love the lost?
A. I can’t honestly say
that I love the lost as a group. Usually, I love only people that I know personally, or
who are somehow, lovable. There are exceptions.
RUN FILM CLIP (15 minutes) from the film Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, a film well worth
watching again in its entirety.
Man was lost on an island for 4 years and finally escaped to sea
on a log raft and drifted for 500 miles lost and alone on a raft with only his
make believe friend, Wilson.
SCENE 2.
Man filling coconuts with water, latter that night he hears a
sound and a whale surfaces and takes a look at him.
DID YOU SEE THAT WHALE LOOK AT HIM?
SCENE 3.
(several days latter)
Wilson, falls off the raft and the whale has returned to spray man
with water to wake him up to Wilson’s plight!
DID YOU SEE THE WHALE SPRAY THE MAN TO WAKE HIM UP TO THE FACT
THAT HIS FRIEND WAS DRIFTING AWAY?
SCENE 4 (several hours or days latter)
Nothing on the horizon and the man lies weeping alone on the raft;
he gives up hope and throws his paddles away is despair. But, the
whale returns and sprays the man twice to wake him up in time to see that a
ship is near and the man is rescued.
DID YOU SEE THE WHALE SPRAY THE MAN TWICE TO WAKE HIM UP TO SEE
THAT A SHIP WAS NEAR?
Commentary:
Webster’s Dictionary definitions:
LOVE is defined as – A strong affection for another arising out of
kinship (relationship) or personal ties.
COMPASSION is defined as – Sympathetic consciousness (awareness)
of other’s distress; together with a desire to alleviate (lighten, ease) it.
Of course the bible is full of
references to LOVE, with many references to God’s love for man and our
love for God and a few references to man’s love for one another; e.g.,
Leviticus 19:18 Love your neighbor as yourself and in the new testament,
Matthew 19:19 Love your neighbor as yourself.
There are also many references in the bible to
COMPASSION; e.g., 2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion. Colossians 3:12 Therefore as
God’s chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion.
Now it’s time for some Q & A follow ups:
Q. Did the whale show love or did it show compassion for the lost man?
Q. Why did the whale
show compassion for the lost man?
Q. Where does compassion
come from?
Q. Is it easier to share
your faith out of love for the lost or out of compassion for the lost?
Q. Would our reaction be
different to the (30) person challenge to share about God; if we had compassion for the lost instead
of trying to love the lost?
Conclusion:
I think it is possible to experience both love and compassion at
the same time. But sometimes we feel either one or the other. But as long
as you feel something, either love or compassion, you can still reach out to
someone. It is called having a heart after God's own heart.
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