Compassion Fatigue

Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
- Acts 3:4-5

What do you do when someone asks you for money or help?

“Compassion fatigue” is a term that was first coined in the 1950’s to describe what happened to nurses who were overwhelmed with the needs of the people for which they cared. For many of us, it describes the condition of our hearts. There are so many needs around us. We get asked for help so often. We just feel numb.

In today’s passage, the man who was lame from birth asked Peter and John for money. If you keep reading in Acts, you’ll see that requests like these came to the apostles all the time. And yet they looked straight at this man when he asked them for money.

The man wasn’t even paying them much attention. He asked them for money, sure, but he asked everyone for money. He didn’t even notice that they were looking at him.

Peter’s voice snapped him out of his fog: “Look at us!” Immediately, a connection was made.

Making that connection with another human being can free us from our compassion fatigue. When we look into their eyes, listen to their story, engage with them as a person, God sees to it that something in our hearts come alive. God’s Spirit, dwelling within us, has tremendous and unending wells of compassion--compassion that he fills us with when we make a human connection.

God doesn’t need you to fix every problem or help every person. He has a couple of things he has prepared in advance for you to do. And doing that work requires that we be willing to see.

Try covering your eyes with your hands and praying this prayer today. When you finish praying, remove your hands and open your eyes.
Father, help me to see the people around me with fresh eyes today. Out of your endless compassion, fill me anew with compassion for the people you help me see. Help me have eyes to see the people around me. Amen.

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.