What is compassion anyway??

Yesterday I was called on to tell a family that a loved one died. The woman who died was 58 years old, but she did not die of "natural causes". She was killed in a car accident. I have never experienced the anguish that we were met with when we told the daughter that her mother had died. Wailing, crying, questions, pain, anger, frustration... on it went for what seemed like an eternity.

In reflection, I thought about a few things.

1. I have never lost anyone that I had not expected to die soon.

2. I have been told my entire life, and believe it to be true, that this life is just temporary, and that death is the beginning of greater things to come (for those that are believers).

3. It is possible that because of my belief in Jesus and the fact that my life has been surrounded by those that believe, I do not understand at all what this woman was struggling with.

I think I lack in sensitivity for others around me due to my view of what is to come. I do not fear death. I do not fear death for my family. I see it as sad but temporary. Death is not the end, but rather the beginning of eternal life for those in Christ, but also eternal damnation for those without Christ. It is the latter part of that statement I loose sight of. My guess is that others around me are experiencing the same problem.

Why can we see others tormented and are not tormented ourselves?
Why can we see pain and anguish and are not moved to respond?
Why can we walk through life worried about the temporary when the eternal is at risk?
Why don't I care as Christ did?

I am not saying that we are to be blubbering idiots snotting all over ourselves with constant tears running down our faces, but shouldn't we be sharing the anguish of the world around us? I am not saying that we do not move with compassion to help the needs brought to our attention, but how is it we often don't even notice the pain that others are experiencing, let alone share in it?

I fear I have become a Christian that rests on a mountain of security and calls to those who are at Hell's door with no more passion than a McDonald's worker asking me what I would like to order. This should not be!

What about you?