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Oh, to be like Him--sympathetic, reaching out to others in distress!

Jesus called Himself "the Son of man." He showed compassion toward all kinds of people . . . the sinful . . . the rejected . . . the brokenhearted . . . men and women . . . little children. The hopeless and the helpless looked to Him, and He never failed to meet their needs. As you study Dr. Luke's record of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, you will better understand God's compassion and thereby be motivated to a greater degree to show loving concern for others . . . and to do what you can in God's power to help them in their distress. As never before, Dr. Wiersbe believes, God is calling His people to BE COMPASSIONATE

"Pity is a depressant," wrote the eccentric philosopher Friedrich Nietzche. "A man loses power when he pities."

Nietzche went mad in the year Adolph Hitler was born, but Hitler carried on that philosophy. He despised other people and stood apart from them. He especially despised the weak and the handicapped, and he developed programs for exterminating them. Robert Payne wrote, "Even on festive occasions he remained singularly alone, the flow of emotion ceasing abruptly when it came in contact with him. . . . He demanded for himself an immunity from people" (The Life and Death of Adolph Hitler, Praeger, p. 461). What a contrast to Jesus Christ, the compassionate Son of Man! In his Gospel, Dr. Luke describes our Lord as one who mingled with people, including publicans and sinners, and who shared the burdens of the afflicted and the weak. Jesus has proved conclusively that pity is a sign of strength, not of weakness; and that God's power flows through loving hearts.

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said that if the other planets are inhabited, they must be using the earth as their insane asylum. Our world is filled with hurting people who need a loving touch and a word of encouragement. Jesus has put His people here to let the world know that He cares. His command to us is, "Be compassionate!"