"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." — Ephesians 4:32. 1 Peter 3:8 is one of the most well-known Bible verses about compassion: "Be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble." We can practice compassion in everyday life.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
It is the ability to step into another person's shoes and understand. Through empathy, we aim to understand what others are feeling and use this understanding to guide our thoughts and actions. On the other hand, sympathy is seeing another person's pain from the outside and feeling sorry for them.
Jesus Put In the Work
Truly empathizing with others is easier said than done, and for Jesus, empathy largely came from suffering the “pains and afflictions and temptations … and the sicknesses of his people” so that He might know “how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11, 12).
Since Jesus was God, he was able to empathize with all people, no matter what their personality or background, and this is often evidenced in the gospels.
Some babies enter the world with more sensitivity than others—an inborn temperament. You can see it when they come out of the womb. They're much more responsive to light, smells, touch, movement, temperature, and sound. These infants seem to be empaths from the start.
Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me will never die. Even though he dies, he will live.”. Like I know my dad, because he trusted in Jesus, he lives. He died, but he lives today.
The Differences Between Empathy and Sympathy
Empathy is shown in how much compassion and understanding we can give to another. Sympathy is more of a feeling of pity for another. Empathy is our ability to understand how someone feels while sympathy is our relief in not having the same problems.
Consider these definitions: Empathy definition: empathy is our feeling of awareness toward other people's emotions and an attempt to understand how they feel. Compassion definition: compassion is an emotional response to empathy or sympathy and creates a desire to help.
She watched her son be nailed to a cross and stood there until the end. She can intercede for you with empathy and such compassionate love.
Here are some Bible examples of how to show God's kindness: Ruth — Ruth loved her mother-in-law, Naomi, and had compassion for her. Naomi's husband and sons had died. In an act of selfless compassion and empathy, Ruth traveled with Naomi back to Bethlehem and settled there with her.
She summarizes the facets of this program, “Seven Keys of E.M.P.A.T.H.Y. ® ,” using the word as an acronym for: Eye contact, Muscles of facial expression, Posture, Affect, Tone of voice, Hearing the whole person, and Your response.
The gift of empathy
' Empathetic people can fear empathy and view it as a curse that they should hide from. Or they can fear empathy but also embrace it as the unique gift as it is and use it to help people and better the world around them.
The reason why empathy is so important is that it helps us better understand how others are feeling, and even feel it in ourselves. It helps us maintain relationships and plays a role in dictating our success in both personal and professional relationships.
Empathy is a fantastic, enlightening, and a phenomenal superpower. However, like any great power, we must also guard it wisely in order to not grant it too easily.
Studies have shown that when going through tough times, empathy heals. Having empathy can be defined as having the ability to feel and understand what other people are going through. In essence, it's being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes.
Empathy is an enormous concept. Renowned psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman have identified three components of empathy: Cognitive, Emotional and Compassionate.
When it comes to the survival of intimate relationships, no matter how much love there is between you and your partner, there's no guarantee that you both will be able to empathize—even if you think you're "soulmates." Without empathy, the love in your relationship will end up like "love" as in tennis—one big zero.
On the opposite side of empathy, there is callousness, heartlessness, or cold-heartedness. Not that you have to be callous, heartless, or cold-hearted if you're not very empathetic—it's possible to be somewhere in between.
Sympathy is often an expression of feeling bad or sorry for the other person. Empathy is deeper and more intense than sympathy. It is about acknowledging a person's feelings and genuinely imagining and trying to feel what it's like to be in the other person's shoes.
Someone with low empathy may have trouble connecting to other people's circumstances. They may believe that a certain event would never happen to them, or that they could handle the situation “much better.” Because they feel this is the case, they won't be able to understand or feel the other person's distress.
Philippians 4:11–13
12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 13 For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.