May 6, 2020 (Wednesday)
Empathy: “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another person…”
When the Bible says God loved the world, it is talking about empathy. God not only evaluated us as lost in our sin and slaves to our wayward ways — He felt for us. He saw our plight and was more than sympathetic; what He experienced was empathy.
When you feel true empathy for another person, you somehow get under the load that he or she is bearing. That’s what Jesus did on the Cross. He got under the load of our sin and went so far as to give up His life for us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).
Psychologists call a person who shares the feelings of others an empath. The opposite is a sociopath.
Sociopaths are the bullies, the people who storm through life leaving in their wake people who have been bullied, crushed, mistreated, and hurt. They are the ones who professed love for God when they had Him nailed to a cruel Roman cross. And, make no mistake, they enjoyed every minute of it in their emotionless twisted way of thinking. Such are the ways of those who care only for themselves and despise others, if they have any feelings at all.
Christ wants his children to be good people, concerned for others and eager to help them. This kind of person is a light in a darkened world. His life is characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Love is at the heart of all that we are, all we believe and all we do as Christians. God sent His Son because He loves us. Jesus died because He loves us. His last commandment to us was to love one another. He rose from the dead and commissioned us to make disciples who will love Him, love others and live the kind of life that reflects the love of Jesus for a lost world.
Oh What Love!
William Runyan
circa 1925
Wonderful it is that Jesus cares for me;
Coming from his home on high,
Into pain and sorrow, poverty and woe,
On Cal’v’ry’s cruel cross for me to die.
Chorus:
Oh, what love,
that He should die for me!
Saving grace
thus to supply for me;
Oh, what love!
Oh, what love!
Evermore I’ll sing it,
Oh, what love!
Not by works of righteousness which I had done,
But thro’ grace He set me free;
I could not by merit ope’ redemption’s door,
Salvation was His own free gift to me.
Chorus
Will He then not keep me all my journey thro’?
Yea, until life’s latest hour.
Never would I doubt Him, for His promise sure
Is both for saving and for keeping pow’r
Chorus
Happy Birthday, dear Granddaughter Melinda Pearl Fake Hodges. The year 1983 was notable for your coming into this world to bless us all.