I might convince you I was a good person if you saw me helping one day at a food bank and I went to Church every week. That alone might not be enough, so lets say I talk to you and find out your favorite food and then bring you some. While there I offer to walk your dog because its raining, and go to the grocery store for you because you are out of milk. Would that convince you I was a good person?

All of those things are physical things you can see and observe, but what if I didn’t provide food for my own family, and behind closed doors I yell at my wife and children? I ignore my own family and never stop and bring them anything. I don’t offer to walk my own dog especially when its raining, and certainly don’t offer to go to the store, but instead I criticize my wife for being stupid enough to run out of milk.

Compare that to a homeless person you see with dirty clothes at the food bank who never goes to church because they are too embarrassed of how they are dressed. They don’t have money to bring you food or milk because they are hungry themselves. They don’t have a car so they can’t come visit.

Would it change your perspective about the homeless man if you found out he gave his dessert to another homeless person at the food bank because that was their favorite? He has a small worn Bible he reads every day. He works at the food bank every week to show appreciation for receiving meals. He found bike parts and got a bicycle working for transportation, but there was a boy at the food bank that really wanted a bike so he gave it to him.

The first example were things we saw with our eyes and made judgements about with our mind. The second were things that were felt with the heart. I am quick to observe, but I hope to become more quick to empathize. Let us be less convinced because of what we see, but more changed in our hearts by what we feel.