8-4-14<\/p>\n
\u201cCaring\u201d is a buzzword that has become \u2013 as most buzzwords do \u2013 overused, oversold\u2026 and underappreciated, to the point of emptiness. In our society, Caring is a word that covers a multitude of sins: bureaucratic assembly-lines; government overreach; the tyranny of a minority. All in the name of Caring.<\/p>\n
There is nothing wrong, of course, with caring. Quite the opposite. But it is a word that must be coupled with something, or else it is a disembodied emotional phantom. Abstract.<\/p>\n
It has entered the realm of \u201cPolitalk.\u201d A few years ago, some politicians received memos suggesting they insert the words \u201cCaring\u201d and \u201cChildren\u201d every so often in speeches. We listeners were supposed to start wagging our tails like Dr Pavolv\u2019s dogs at the words. Enough of us did. \u201cDo anything to me, but just tell me you care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inherent problems are more than emptiness of meaning. The Caring meme charts a steady course from compassion to compulsion to coercion. Next, the Compassion Police come knocking at the doors of our conscience, serving writs of Guilt.<\/p>\n
Lest I sound like Scrooge, think of what the vulgarization of Caring has come to mean in the 21st century. In the name of Caring and Compassion, we have allowed governments to co-opt the role of individuals, and individuals\u2019 consciences. The point of the parable of the Good Samaritan was that an individual was moved, and acted alone \u2013 in fact, out of character and social expectations. Jesus Himself healed, and empowered His followers to heal\u2026 notice that He never empowered or commissioned the government of His day. In fact it was \u201crender unto Caesar,\u201d not \u201cdemand from Caesar\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Through history, the great agencies of Caring, after individuals and family, were more than governments. The authorities in ancient Greece and Rome did build public baths. But it was the church, in a thousand ways, that delivered charity and succor. Also, it was guilds and businesses. The Fuggers, bankers and merchants of Augsburg in the Middle Ages, established almshouses for the poor. In 1858, individual donors enabled a doctor to open baths and health facilities for the poor in County Cork, Ireland. By 1860, around the engine works of the Great Western Railway in New Swindon, outside London, the directors built worker\u2019s cottages, libraries, and hospitals; they provided health care and free medicine.<\/p>\n
The point of this history lesson is that in recent years, governments have co-opted care-giving functions from individuals and associations. To cite \u201cefficiency\u201d is to worship a false god, because in the process, individuals are being robbed of the option to emotionally notice; denied the challenge to intellectually consider; discouraged from the initiative to assist. In fact, when governments collect taxes in order to be the agents of Care, people eventually will feel less obliged to do charitable work themselves.<\/p>\n
St Augustine (in his Confessions) speculated that the meaning behind the reminder \u201cthe poor you will always have with you\u201d is that God desires to set before us circumstances to which we will be inspired to act charitably. Our broken hearts touch His heart.<\/p>\n
Through it all (or despite it all), Americans still contribute more money and more missionaries and social workers than do most other countries to most world needs. But the relentless socialization of charity has brought us to a realization \u2013 confirmed as we watch the nightly news these very days \u2013 that regimes that ruled in the name of managing peoples\u2019 fates, are having their true natures revealed: corruption, theft, oppression.<\/p>\n
We give our lives over to institutions that care\u2026 but they crumble. Leaders who care\u2026 but they get turned out. Officials who care\u2026 but they play the system against us. Politicians who care\u2026 but they lie. Programs that care\u2026 but they run out of resources. Meanwhile, all the time, Jesus has been standing at the door, knocking. When Jesus cares for us, it is not because He has compassion, but because He is the essence of compassion.<\/p>\n
And when He cares about us, and cares for us, something happens. He offers healing, provision, and the peace that passes understanding. Those things are not in the fine-print of anything the world\u2019s \u201ccompassion\u201d can deliver.<\/p>\n
We should not suspect the motives of the compassionate in our midst; not at all. But we always need to remember that without the godly component, the world might care about, but truly cannot care for, its people.<\/p>\n
+<\/p>\n
Does Jesus Care?<\/p>\n
A powerful, simple song was written a hundred years ago around this question \u2013 and this answer: Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you (I Peter 5:7). It is sung here a capella by the Isaacs \u2013 brother and sisters Ben, Becky, and Sonya. From the excellent beanscot Channel on YouTube. It will stay in your heart all week!<\/p>\n