I think that one of the greatest things about living a life with Christ doubles as one of the most difficult. Empathy forces us to look beyond ourselves and act on behalf of others who are unable to act for themselves.

Humans are a funny species. We are capable of such incredible destruction yet we are also capable of creating intoxicating beauty. We find ourselves living in this world with this not so delicate dynamic of chaos amongst the beauty and at the center of it all are a lot of hurting people.

The challenge of Jesus is to love others as ourselves. I think its really interesting that in order to help us understand how we are to love, Jesus draws an analogy we can all understand. We are all truly and deeply in love with ourselves.  Loving ourselves numbs us to having empathy for others. We can’t feel others hurt if alls we ever feel are ourselves. I think this is one of the reasons for the destruction we witness in our world.

Growing in relationship with Christ means its going to be easy to get hurt. I cry a lot. It hurts to feel. It hurts to know that there is more that i can do. Yet I am inspired by the hope i have in Christ. I am inspired by the beauty of love and redemption. I believe that empathy, feeling what others feel, is an attribute of God in us. I believe that it is divine intervention in the most passive yet effective way. Instead of God stepping in and righting the wrongs He challenges us to be His hands and feet to spread healing to others.

Lord help me to feel what others feel, even when it hurts. Don’t ever let me grow numb and please give me the courage to take action when you want me.