Lack of Empathy

Empathy means "feeling another person's pain" even if you've not experienced their situation. 

Without empathy, we're more apt to hurt others and less likely to apologize. We're more apt to think how others make us feel and less likely to think how we make them feel.

Unfortunately, lack of empathy is a growing problem in our culture of high self-esteem.

But empathy is important to God:

"Value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others ... Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." Philippians 2:3-4 NIV; Galatians 6:2-3 NLT 

When someone is hurting, even when they offend us, it's important that we try to put ourselves in their situation and consider what challenges they might be facing.   

Let's ask God's help in developing Biblical empathy.

To do a short Bible study on this devotion check out today's Bite Size Bible Study. And I also recommend the 1-minute devotion Romans 12:15: Rejoice and Mourn.
 

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