Deu 22:1 "You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother.
Deu 22:2 And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him.
Deu 22:3 And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it.
Deu 22:4 You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
These verses don't allow an israelite to not be responsible for another man's loss. It goes over every situation that you could think of to let yourself off the hook. Oh, they'll find it. I don't have time. He doesn't need that garment. I don't know to whom this belongs. It basically comes back to the law of "do to others as you would have them do to you". For these laws are summed up by this premise. But the the law spells it out practically for them in each scenerio. It seems the law gave how the summed law actually looks like in everyday situations.
In a sense, this is who Jesus is to us. He didn't have to take on our responsibility or our needs. Yet He offers to take every burden that we have, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
And as we get to know the heart of Christ, we develop His heart to be concerned for others needs. We supernaturally care for another's heartache, lost item, trial, etc. We develop His heart for others and we are propelled to act on their behalf. Obviously its not out of compulsion, but out of His love for them we have compassion and want to act on their behalf as how we would respond if it were happening to us.
Father, give me your heart of compassion that I may act according to you and not my own selfish desires. For that is my immediate response-to let them deal with it themselves. But your heart is for me to respond according to your selflessness. Let me live and dwell there. Amen.
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