The Witness of Compassion

The Arithmetic of Ashes: Finding the Witness of Compassion in a Nation on Fire

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” — 1 Peter 5:7

From my study here in Akasia, Pretoria, I look out at a nation holding its breath. Just last week, twelve souls were gunned down in a Johannesburg informal settlement. Anti-immigrant protests have turned violent. Migrants clash with police at deportation sites. The headlines scream of a country hemorrhaging hope. And in the middle of this madness, we are told to cast our anxiety on a God who cares. Is it not true that we all feel the weight of this moment pressing down on our chests like a concrete slab?

Let us define our terms clearly. Compassion is not mere sympathy—that sentimental nod from a safe distance. The word derives from the Latin compati, meaning “to suffer with.” It is the gut-wrenching capacity to enter another’s pain without being destroyed by it. But here is the paradox that shatters modern psychology: You cannot truly suffer with others until you have first learned to suffer with yourself in the presence of God.

I. The Witness Within: Your Soul’s Security Camera

Picture a security camera mounted high on a wall in a Johannesburg shopping centre. It observes everything the chaos, the theft, the fear—but it is never consumed by what it sees. It remains anchored, unmoved, recording truth without becoming the truth it records.

There is a place inside you, seated with Christ in heavenly places, that can observe your own pain without being consumed by it. The Scripture declares unequivocally: “Cast all your anxiety on him”  an aorist command, a single decisive action of transfer. This is not a suggestion; it is spiritual warfare protocol. The adversary’s primary tactic is fear, and fear thrives when you carry what only God can bear.

The argument can be formulated thus:

· Premise 1: Anxiety is the evidence that you are carrying a burden designed for divine shoulders.

· Premise 2: The One who invites you to cast your cares is the same One who calmed storms with a word and raised the dead with a whisper.

· Premise 3: Therefore, to refuse to cast your anxiety is not humility it is pride disguised as self-sufficiency.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Pride is at the root of most of our anxiety. We clutch our worries like a Soweto entrepreneur clutching his last R200 note, terrified that if we let go, we will have nothing. But God says: “Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand”. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less—and trusting God more.

II. The Anatomy of a Compassionate Witness

Let me tell you a personal story. A few years ago, I found myself in the pit of financial downturn. The bank was calling. The ministry was struggling. My family looked to me for answers I did not have. I remember sitting in my car outside a garage in Akasia, too afraid to go home, too proud to ask for help. The anxiety was a python wrapped around my chest, squeezing tighter with every breath.

And then, in that moment of absolute desolation, I heard a whisper not audible, but unmistakable: “Cast it. Just cast it.”

I did something ridiculous. I opened my hands physically in that car and said aloud: “Lord, I am handing You my fear. I am handing You my failure. I am handing You my future.” And in that act of surrender, something shifted. I did not get an immediate bank balance miracle. But I received something far greater: the Witness of Compassion rose within me. I could observe my own suffering from a place seated with Christ, and I realized: the sky holds the storm but is not destroyed by it.

What you do daily determines what you become permanently. If you daily practice casting your cares, you daily develop the spiritual muscle of the Compassionate Witness. If you neglect this discipline, you forfeit the peace that passes all understanding.

III. The Xenophobia in Our Hearts: A Prophetic Confrontation

Now, let us sound the alarm against a cultural compromise that masquerades as patriotism. The anti-immigrant rhetoric sweeping our nation is not a political problem—it is a spiritual sickness. When we look at a foreign national and feel contempt rather than compassion, we are not protecting our nation; we are betraying our God.

A common objection is: “But pastor, they are taking our jobs! They are overwhelming our resources!” However, this fails because it confuses political policy with personal piety. You can advocate for border control without dehumanizing the image-bearer standing before you. The Scripture declares: “You shall love the foreigner as yourself” (Leviticus 19:34). Jesus Christ, the ultimate Witness of Compassion, was Himself a refugee in Egypt. God Almighty chose to identify with the displaced, the dispossessed, the desperate.

Consider the viral TikTok video of that South African man celebrating his Nigerian wife. In a nation aflame with xenophobia, that act of public love was prophetic. It said: “My love is stronger than your hatred.” That is the Witness of Compassion in action.

IV. The Infinite Well: Drawing from Divine Reserves

Here is the theological non-negotiable: You cannot give what you do not have. If your compassion is drawn from your own fragile emotional reserves, it will run dry. You will become bitter, burned out, and brittle. But when you anchor yourself in the infinite well of God’s own heart, your compassion becomes inexhaustible.

The Scripture assures us: “He cares for you”. The Greek word melei carries the weight of personal, attentive concern. God is not a distant bureaucrat signing off on prayers from a celestial office. He is a Father who watches everything that concerns you. His nail-scarred hands are open to bear every burden.

True liberation is found only in submitting to the One who cares. You will never possess peace until you are willing to pursue surrender. You will never become compassionate until you hate the poverty of self-reliance. Each relationship nurtures a strength or weakness within you—and your relationship with God determines whether you become a reservoir of compassion or a cistern of complaint.

V. The Call to Action: From Witness to Warrior

Therefore, reason itself, illuminated by Scripture and confirmed in our deepest longings, compels us to acknowledge that the Witness of Compassion is not a passive observer it is an active warrior. From this anchored place, you do not merely feel compassion; you become compassion. You visit the foreigner in your community. You speak peace in a nation screaming for war. You cast your anxiety so that you can carry someone else’s burden.

The National Arts Festival returns to Makhanda this month a celebration of creativity. But I ask you: will our creativity be used to mock suffering or to heal it? The Basha Uhuru Freedom Festival celebrates youth activism—but will our activism be rooted in anger or anchored in Christ?

Attack is the proof that your enemy anticipates your success. When the adversary sends anxiety, it is because he knows your destiny. When the world shouts “fear,” the Witness whispers “faith.” When the nation bleeds, the Church must bind wounds.

Conclusion: The Arithmetic of Ashes

God loves you because of who you are—His child, created in His image. But He blesses you because of what you do when you choose to cast your cares and become a conduit of His compassion.

This is the arithmetic of ashes: What the enemy meant for your destruction, God repurposes for your assignment. The very anxiety that threatened to consume you becomes the fuel for your compassion. The very pain that sought to destroy you becomes the platform for your ministry.

So I leave you with this challenge: Who in your life needs the Witness of Compassion today? The foreign national in your street? The colleague carrying a secret burden? The family member you have not spoken to in months? Cast your anxiety, and then go—go and be the evidence that God cares.

Lord, let me know the Compassionate Witness within. Anchor me in Your love so I may love others from Your infinite reserves. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, my Anchor and my Advocate. Amen.

Harold Mawela

Akasia, Pretoria

June 2026

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6bwA4qoWZk0faRUcwcBoDp?si=PZn92cTdSky3_EDExqb8KA