Why should we help? This is the question central to all acts of mercy. Why should we help indeed? In order to completely embrace the idea of helping those who desperately need it we must lose the "What have you done for me lately?" mentality that so permeates our world. Samuel Johnson said that the true mark of a person's character was based on how they treated those who could benefit them in no way. And so we are left to wonder why we should help those who have never and who could never do anything to benefit us?
I believe that the answer to this question is found in the character of Jesus Christ. He healed the sick because He had compassion on them. He healed them because he loved them. He healed them because the good news is not only the good news of salvation but good news for daily living as well. And He assured us that whatever we do for the least of His brothers and sisters we do for Him as well.
And so the answer to our question is, we help because it is what Jesus would do.
Reconcile (rek-uh n-sahyl) - To compose or to settle; to bring into agreement or harmony; to make compatible; to win over to friendliness; to cause to become amicable; to restore.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."
- 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NIV)