In the 1950s a skinny preacher named David Wilkerson infiltrated a gang controlled neighborhood on the streets of New York preaching the gospel. One of the most notorious and most feared gang leaders, Nicky Cruz, approached the preacher one frightful day and said, “You come near me and I’ll kill you!”

Wilkerson replied, “Yeah, you could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.”

Cruz later miracously gave his life to the Lord and was transformed from the inside out. Wilkerson wrote about it in one of the most famous christian books of all time, The Cross And The Switchblade.

What an amazing response in a life-threatening encounter…cut me into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will STILL love you. I wonder how many of us could say that when confronted with such a situation. This challenges my faith…a lot! Do I love people enough to have that kind of compassion? For the people I love…hopefully…but for strangers…or enemies…now that is a challenge.

The kind of compassion and love that Jesus exuded was truly lived out by Wilkerson. What a place to be in your spiritual journey that you could let compassion lead you so genuinely. This kind of love is what we are called to…dare I say commanded to. In fact, Jesus basically equated our love towards others as loving him.

Matthew 25:40

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So how do we love others with a genuine compassion?

1) Forgive Because You Were Forgiven

How dare we receive true forgiveness and mercy from our Father in heaven, yet not distribute that same love towards others? How hypocritical is it to be so joyous over our forgiveness, and withhold it from others? We forgive because we are forgiven.

We show love in the same way we have received it. Our love towards others should overflow from a heart of gratitude of God’s love for us.

2) See The Good In People

William James said that the art of being wise is, “the art of knowing what to overlook.” If we look at people’s faults that is all we wills see. We must practice the art of seeing the way God sees. We are to walk by faith and not by sight, as Corinthians says. This means our eyes are not on the physical, but on the spiritual. We need to see people through the lens of faith and compassion. See the person God created them to be, not the person they are stuck in.

3) Walk In Forgiveness

Martin Luther King Jr. “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” Forgiveness is not an event, it is a lifestyle. We must choose to forgive on the front-end of all situations. Decide in your heart today that whatever happens to you, you already forgive it. We cannot wait for situations to happen before we decide if we will forgive, we should walk in an attitude of forgiveness before it even happens. Jesus chose to forgive before He even saw any offense, we need to live in the same way.

When you walk in forgiveness and do as Wilkerson did…you can experience true freedom. Freedom only comes from being forgiven, and giving forgiveness.