Empathy
Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:1-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus …
Philippians 2:5
I once was a minister of a church that sat on a hilltop. One day when I was walking downhill, I met some neighbors walking uphill. They were a young couple, and the wife was about eight-months pregnant. What caught my eye was that the husband was holding a big watermelon in a strange way—against his stomach and with both hands in front.
He said, “I want to feel what my wife has to go through each time she has to walk home. Now I know something of what it is like to carry a baby in your body for nine months!”
What a beautiful story of empathy, to stand in another person’s shoes. I had been trying to reach out to this couple without much success until that day.
The Spirit then led me to start a conversation with them about the incarnation, in which the Son of God became human—not just to feel our pain and struggle but to take away our troubles forever by his death for us on the cross.
All these teachings suddenly became real for these neighbors, and they started coming to church.
Do you try to feel how others feel?
Do you know that our Lord can empathize with our weaknesses and that “we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)?
Lord Jesus, thank you for feeling our pains and our joys. Empower us to care for others as you have done for us. Help us to look and listen for opportunities to share your story. Amen.
About the author — Jimmy Tai-On Lin
Rev. Jimmy Lin is the Chinese ministry leader of The Back to God Hour. With his staff in Palos Heights and Hong Kong, Rev. Lin has ministered to over 1.3 billion Chinese-speaking people around the world for 16 years through radio, literature, CD/DVD, Internet, and text message. His wife, Doris, is one of the translators of Today into the Chinese language, which now has a circulation of more than 45,000 copies.
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