Relationship management can be an emotionally and spiritually exhausting practice for many of us. We spend more time than we realize mentally categorizing people. For varied reasons, we label and assign people certain places in our minds, hearts, and lives. We do this based on people we can trust, people we allow to influence our lives, and sometimes based off superficial judgments of them.
What we see in this story about Jesus and the disciples is that Jesus has compassion for people. We don’t see Him playing the relationship management exercise as we do. He simply saw people as those who were hurting and needed hope. He saw people who were lost and needed a Savior. He saw people burdened by a religious system that had let them down. He saw people who needed to be set free.
What if the lens we chose to view others was through the lens of compassion?
What if we decided we would only see people through the eyes of Jesus?
As you meet people and build relationships, choose compassion. View others through the lens of grace and engage them as Jesus did. Allow your heart to be moved with compassion for the hopelessness around you and then extend to them the grace and hope found in Jesus.
Maclane Forbus 