Compassion, Sympathy, Empathy
Did you wake up this morning thinking, “Oh, I hope that I will be met with heartless indifference, hostility and disapproval today – that would be so uplifting!” No? Most of us wake up hoping for compassion, sympathy, or empathy, provided these virtues are needed at the moment.
Christ came as High Priest to provide just such virtues precisely when they are needed. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Having lived a physical life, just like you or me, He knows exactly what we go through in the flesh. Because he lived a sinless life and knows how much better our lives could be without sin, He can have compassion and sympathy for us. He also empathizes with the feelings and emotions we struggle with as we overcome.
Such life-giving virtues, however, are being corrupted in the world today. They have been turned into political weapons for radical change. Can we not all just have compassion, sympathy and empathy for those who openly and deliberately, with malicious intent, violate the long-standing laws of our land? God is being taken completely out of the equation – it is just a façade for godless change.
For believers – the faithful – yes, we can and should have sympathetic feelings of pity and compassionate concern for others who have virtually no real knowledge of God. We can empathize with them in that we were once in that same condition. “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2).
The irony of it all is that the world’s view of compassion, sympathy and empathy is being used to further remove people from God. Thankfully, the opposite is true for the faithful. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). The great virtues of our High Priest give us boldness in approaching Him so that we can be strengthened through His mercy. Through this, we do not go back into the world – we overcome it!
Marshall Stiver
