The roadmap lines on her aged face were as deeply etched as the convictions in her heart. Her natural beauty long since faded, she nevertheless radiated an inner strenght and beauty that is a rare find indeed. It was an inner fervor born of compassion, and a beauty stemming from the sweetness of a soul touched by the hand of the Savior.
Truely, it was the hand of the Savior who guided her gnarled hands; hands accustomed to 
toil, squalor, and misery. Yet they were hands of mercy, compassion, hope, and salvation. Mother Teresa: the hand of Jesus extended to the lowest of the low, yet one of the greatest Saints to epitomize His grace, humility, and love.
“Let the poor…eat you up,” she said. May we be consumed with the same compassion-that of our Lord’s heart for the lost and needy in our world.
We all know who Mother Teresa was. We admire her for her selflessness and ardent compassion for the suffering and poverty-stricken of Calcutta; we applaud her courage and convictions. We affirm her place as a heroine among saints, a unique individual with a unique call and even more unique dedication.
But should compassion for the poor (or anyone who suffers for that matter) and a willingness to come to their aid with the love of Jesus be so unique for followers of Christ?
Should compassion for the poor be unique among Christians, or uniquely Christian?
Can I be honest with you? Suffering bugs me. I’m not talking about my own personal suffering (which bugs me alot…if what minor discomforts I experience can actually be called suffering), but it’s the plight of others that really gets to me. Peoples’ suffering really affects me more than just feeling uncomforable or awkward. Many times I feel helpless to help, dumbfounded as what to say, and overcome emotionally by their difficulty. And to be painfully honest, at times I feel put out and worried about how much time compassion is going to cost me.
What is it about me that makes someone else’s suffering about me?
And, am I alone in this?
I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to suffer as many do, but I do know what it is to be self-centered. And the best wasy to cure being me-focused is to become others-focused…and that happens when first, I become Jesus-focused.
If I’m going to truly follow Jesus, then I’m going to go where He goes, love whom He loves, care for whom He cares, and give of myself just as He did, and still does…through us!
The thing that makes Believers Fellowship Church uniquely Christian is not our religious rhetoric, but our selfless love for others and the willingness to have the poor eat us up, as we humbly and gratefully follow Jesus.
“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.” - Mother Teresa
