A few years ago, it became trendy for every organisation to have a mission statement: something that would tell others in clear, simple terms what the organisation was trying to achieve.
We’ve never really had a mission statement at Hands of Compassion, but I think the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 best describe who we hope to be:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, For he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, That the oppressed will be set free, And that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.”
We need to continuously ask ourselves how we can use our resources, ideas and people to address the social problem in our communities.
Jesus did not see people as an interruption of His ministry but as the reason for it. We pray for God to anoint us, but do we really want that kind of anointing that is characterised by self-sacrifice.
Jesus gave us an example for us to follow by washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-17):
He was willing to give up his privileges. He didn’t have to do it. He chose to do it. He was willing to give up his privileges to identify with the poor. Today we hear so much about upward mobility, but Jesus was the ultimate example of downward mobility – the word came down and lived amongst us as a servant (the word made flesh). The Gospel moves from theory to reality (flesh) when we are willing to become servants – to serve the poor and use our blessings to bless others.
Jesus nourished compassion for the weak. He did not manipulate the vulnerable. Compassion is an instinct that God has placed in every one of us God created in God’s image, but it is an instinct that privilege, comfort, power tends to suppress.
We want to encourage you to allow God’s compassion in you to flourish. Once we knew very little of God’s mercy, but now we are able to live by it and share it with the vulnerable and hurting.