Compassion

There is no doubt that nothing attracts a larger number of people today than sporting events. It is estimated that more than four billion people watch the Olympic Games on television, and millions watch the most important football matches and basketball games of the year. Multitudes enjoy some entertainment for an hour or two.

Millions of people go to sports stadiums, and millions follow other stars in the world of music, cinema, politics etc. Hundreds and hundreds of idols are observed daily, by men and women like us. These heroes, however, don't know who their followers are, and can't do anything personally for each and every one of them. But this does not seem to matter; many people just live for their hour of entertainment at five o'clock in the evening.

If this is their only interest, then a multitude of people are without true direction, hope or meaning in their lives. They live happily during these brief moments of diversion while their time gradually runs out. When death strikes a loved one they cry desperately because they don't know what to do for them. Some people then turn against God, thinking that he is to blame for their own errors. And so they ask; what is the reason for living?

Then there are millions of families who don't know what it is to have good family relationships. No-one has spoken to them about how to improve their family lives. Parents can be cruel to their children, driving children to leave home, some never to return. Millions of young people are out looking for diversion in unhealthy or emotionally destabilising ways, in substances that lead to their own destruction or even death. There are millions of children who die without even knowing that someone loves them.

Everyone is getting nearer to their death. Some go holding their heads up high, defying what they know will be the consequences of their sin, while others lament their lives and their misfortunes. But they, too, are condemned for their sin, because they have turned their backs on God, and they don't want to hear about him ... although some of them might, maybe, if someone had dedicated some time to sharing with them.

So, millions of people base their hopes on material possessions which have no future, others grasp at religions which make no sense, and many are full of fear for what could happen. There are men and women who are cheated by those who 'buy and sell the truth', people who are not concerned about the final judgement day. Many go to hell by way of false teaching, sects and the so-called 'enlightened ones' - so many people whose future is eternal condemnation.

When Jesus saw the multitudes he cried . And how de we react?