A Pastoral Reflection on Seeing the World Through Jesus’ Eyes
There is a moment in the Gospels that quietly undoes us if we let it. Jesus is moving through the towns and villages, teaching and healing, and Matthew pauses the narrative to give us a window into His inner world: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36, NIV).
He saw them. He was moved by them. And He did something about it.
That sequence — seeing, being moved, responding — is the heartbeat of genuine compassion for the lost. It is not a program. It is not a technique. It is a posture of the soul that must be cultivated, nurtured, and surrendered to God again and again. The question before us today is simple, but the answer demands everything: How do we develop a heart that beats the way Jesus’ heart beats for people who don’t yet know Him?
The Theological Root: Why Compassion for the Lost Is Not Optional
Before we talk about how to cultivate compassion, we must understand why it is central to the Christian life. The answer begins not with human effort, but with the nature of God Himself.
Scripture is unambiguous: God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Through the prophet Ezekiel, He declares, “As surely as I live… I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). The Apostle Peter echoes this in the New Testament: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
This is the theological foundation beneath everything. God’s heart aches for the lost. He is not a dispassionate deity watching humanity from a cold distance. He is a Father who runs down the road toward a returning prodigal (Luke 15:20). He is a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for one (Luke 15:4). He is a woman who sweeps her entire house looking for a single lost coin (Luke 15:8).
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans about his own people who had not yet come to faith, bares his soul in remarkable terms: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people” (Romans 9:2–3). Paul’s grief was not performative. It was the overflow of a heart that had been captured by the heart of God.
This is the theological root of compassion: because God loves the lost, and because His Spirit lives in us, we are invited — even compelled — to love them too.
“The Spirit of God does not make us more comfortable with the lostness of people around us — He makes us more uncomfortable with it.” — Francis Chan, Forgotten God
Developing a Heart for the Lost: The Inner Work
Genuine compassion for the lost is not manufactured. It is grown — slowly, through spiritual disciplines, honest prayer, and a willingness to be broken by what breaks the heart of God.
1. Pray to See People the Way God Sees Them
The single most transformative prayer a believer can pray may be the simplest: “Lord, let me see this person the way You see them.”
The reason we so easily pass by the lost without feeling is that we see them as strangers, inconveniences, or ideological opponents. God sees them as image-bearers, as beloved prodigals, as sheep for whom His Son died. When we ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18), we begin to see eternity written into every face.
D.L. Moody, the great 19th-century evangelist, described a moment shortly after his own conversion when God seemingly lifted the veil from his eyes as he walked a crowded street in Chicago. He later said he could barely stand to look at the faces of people around him — not out of disgust, but out of a sudden, crushing awareness of their spiritual lostness. That moment re-oriented the rest of his life and ministry.
2. Meditate on the Reality of Eternity
In our age of sentimentality, the doctrine of hell has been quietly moved to the back room of evangelical conversation. But it was Jesus who spoke of it more than anyone else in Scripture. He described a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42), a place of eternal fire (Matthew 25:41), a great chasm no one can cross (Luke 16:26).
This is not sadistic theology. It is the most serious reason in the universe to care about the people around us. C.S. Lewis wrote that the dullest, most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature you would be strongly tempted to worship — or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet only in nightmares. There are no ordinary people. Every soul is eternal.
Lewis was not, of course, encouraging the worship of human beings — Scripture is unambiguous that worship belongs to God alone (Deuteronomy 6:13). His language is deliberately startling, even hyperbolic, to make a profound theological point: the glory God intends to bestow on His redeemed children will be so radiant and magnificent that if we could glimpse it now, our instinct — however misguided — might be to recoil in awe. He draws on the same impulse that caused the Apostle John to fall at an angel’s feet in Revelation 19:10, only to be corrected immediately. Lewis is saying that every person you encounter is an eternal soul trending toward one of two unimaginable destinies — breathtaking redemption in the presence of God, or devastating ruin apart from Him. There are no ordinary people. Every soul is eternal.
When we sit with that truth — really sit with it — it changes how we look at our neighbor, our coworker, the cashier at the grocery store.
3. Confess the Coldness of Our Hearts — and Ask for New Ones
One of the most honest prayers in Scripture comes from the prophet Ezekiel, when God promises His people: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Many of us have grown comfortable. The lost around us have become wallpaper. We need to confess that coldness to God and ask Him, without embarrassment, for a fresh gift of His own compassion. This is not weakness — it is spiritual maturity to know that we cannot manufacture what only God can give.
Practical Approaches to Evangelism and Outreach
A heart for the lost, if it is genuine, will always find feet. Here are several approaches — not formulas — for engaging the people God has placed in your life.
Be Present Before You Speak
Too often, the church’s approach to evangelism has felt transactional: we show up, deliver a message, and leave. But Jesus did not operate that way. He ate with sinners (Luke 15:2). He lingered at wells (John 4). He accepted dinner invitations from people the religious community had written off (Luke 19:5–7).
Presence is itself a form of proclamation. Showing up consistently in someone’s life — at their celebrations, in their difficulties, with no agenda other than genuine friendship — creates the relational soil in which the gospel can take root.
Listen Before You Answer
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” (James 1:19). This is not merely good manners — it is evangelism strategy. People share the gospel most effectively not when they answer questions no one is asking, but when they have listened long enough to understand what questions are being asked.
When Rebecca Manley Pippert was doing evangelism training, she would often remind believers: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Listening communicates care. It opens doors that a perfectly worded gospel presentation alone never could.
Engage in Service as an Act of Witness
Jesus sent the twelve out not only to proclaim the kingdom but to heal the sick and care for the suffering (Luke 9:1–2). Service and proclamation were never meant to be separated. When a church opens a food pantry, tutors struggling students, cares for the elderly, or shows up after a natural disaster, it embodies the compassion of Christ before it speaks a word.
A modern example worth noting: after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Samaritan’s Purse and thousands of ordinary local churches flooded New Orleans — not primarily with gospel tracts, but with chainsaws, water, and meals. Thousands of conversations about faith arose naturally from those acts of tangible love. The gospel was heard because it was first seen.
Tell Your Story Simply and Honestly
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). You do not need a seminary degree to share your testimony. You were lost, you were found — that story is powerful precisely because it is yours. Share it simply, with no embellishment, and with the quiet confidence that the Holy Spirit goes before you.
When Compassion Became a Turning Point: A Story Worth Telling
One of the most widely shared stories of compassion-driven evangelism involves the late Chuck Colson, the Nixon White House aide who was convicted in the Watergate scandal. After his release from prison, Colson went on to found Prison Fellowship — one of the largest Christian outreach ministries to prisoners in the world.
Colson frequently told the story of how, in the darkest days of Watergate, it was not an argument or a debate that moved him toward faith. It was a single act of unexpected compassion. His friend Tom Phillips — a successful businessman — sat with him on a porch one night, read to him from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, and wept with him. Not for him in a condescending way. With him. That evening of honest, unhurried compassion cracked open a heart that political power had hardened.
Colson later reflected: “I was not argued into the Kingdom. I was loved into it.”
That single statement is worth framing. It captures the essence of what we are called to.
A Word to the Weary Evangelist
Perhaps you have shared your faith, and the doors seemed closed. Perhaps you have prayed for a friend or family member for years, and nothing appears to have changed. Perhaps your compassion has grown thin not from callousness, but from exhaustion and grief.
Hear this: the God who called you to care for the lost has not grown tired. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). The harvest is still coming. Your faithfulness — your quiet, persistent, prayerful presence in someone’s life — is not wasted. It is being counted.
“Our job is not to convert anyone. Our job is to be faithful witnesses. Conversion is God’s job.” — Tim Keller, The Reason for God
Recommended Reading
For those who wish to go deeper in developing a heart for the lost and sharpening their practice of evangelism, these three books are among the most formative available:
1. Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World — Rebecca Manley Pippert A classic and beautifully practical guide to natural, relational evangelism. Pippert writes with warmth and honesty about how ordinary Christians can share their faith in everyday life without feeling scripted or artificial. Essential reading for anyone who wants to evangelize as a way of being, not just doing.
2. Just Walk Across the Room — Bill Hybels Hybels strips evangelism down to its most human essence: the simple, courageous act of crossing the room to talk to someone who is far from God. Packed with personal stories and grounded in Scripture, this book is an antidote to paralysis and over-complication. Ideal for believers who know they should share their faith but don’t know where to start.
3. The Weight of Glory — C.S. Lewis Not an evangelism manual per se, but perhaps the most important book on this list for developing the theological imagination that fuels compassion. Lewis’s title essay alone — with its stunning vision of the eternal dignity of every human soul — has awakened more sleeping consciences than almost anything written in the 20th century.
A Closing Encouragement
You were once lost. Someone prayed for you, perhaps for years. Someone spoke a word at the right moment. Someone showed up when you were at your lowest and reflected, however imperfectly, the love of Christ. You are here today because compassion was not just an abstract theological concept to someone — it was something they practiced toward you.
That is the story God is writing in the world, one life at a time. And He is inviting you into it — not because you have it all together, not because you are a skilled apologist or a fearless street preacher, but because you carry in your chest the very Spirit of the One who saw the crowds, was moved with compassion, and gave everything.
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37–38)
You are the answer to that prayer. Go, and be compassionate.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16 (NIV)
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