Caring Like A Christian

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But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18 (ESV)

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

In this crazy world in which we live, there are at least four levels that describe caring about others and/or various situations. I have placed the caring levels from not caring at all, to caring at a level God desires for all of His children to follow.

The first would be apathy. Apathy is defined as a lack of feeling, emotion, or interest; basically the very opposite of caring. It describes a person who doesn’t care at all. A person who goes around with a sense of emotional detachment or impassiveness for the concerns of others and, for what’s going on in society and the world at large. As a follower of Christ, this is definitely not how our Father in Heaven wants us to feel or to behave.

Next would be sympathy. Sympathy is an emotion where you feel sorrow for the person or the hard/difficult situation. It basically involves recognizing and acknowledging a person’s suffering or a difficult situation and feeling sorry that the current circumstance that has occurred.

Then there is empathy. This caring emotion goes beyond just feeling sorry for a person and actually feels the pain alongside the hurting individual. With empathy, one seeks to connect with those hurting and to go through this tough time with them. This caring emotion is deeper than sympathy, in that the person is willing to connect with the suffering individual or situation, at a deeper level of understanding. A lot of Christians will show empathy and will look to pray with and check in on the individuals going through their difficulties.

And ultimately there is compassion. Compassion goes beyond empathy in that one does not just feel sorry for the person or the situation that is occurring, but will try and help in some capacity. They will feel the sorrow and pain that this individual or the situation brings but, they will also try to help alleviate the difficulties by stepping up to try to manage or take care of the situation.

All levels of caring from sympathy up to compassion are extremely important and God is pleased when we allow these caring emotions to shine forth in our hearts. Of the three, however, God would want all of us to be at the compassion stage. Now, we may not be able to step in and help in every circumstance but, there are a lot of different ways one can help. Even if you’re not able to step up and help, showing sympathy or better yet, being empathetic, can help lift someone as they go through their difficult time.

I pray that we all have the heart and the character disposition to show compassion to those in need. As we journey through life and come across those who are in desperate situations, may we be willing to step up and help and not just feel sympathy and/or empathy for their difficulties. May we strive to always show Godly compassion to those around us.

Blessings,

Angélique

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