Empathy is “the ability or capacity to understand and share the feelings of another.” Those feelings may be positive or negative.
Compassion is “the sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.” This is a distinct difference. With compassion, you’re not sharing the feelings with the other person, but rather you’re sympathetic and motivated to improve the situation for the other person. There is a corresponding action to the concern and care.
The scripture is clear about the value of both of these.
Romans 12:15 says “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” That’s empathy.
All throughout the Gospels there are scriptures to mention how Jesus showed compassion to the people around him. He was the King of compassion!
I was reading a psychological study that discussed how empathy can lead to empathic distress which creates a desire to withdraw in order to protect oneself from the feelings of negativity.
It can be challenging to weep with those who weep, particularly when it triggers your own trauma, forces painful self-reflection, or simply feels too overwhelming to think about. It’s easier to withdraw, minimize, or deflect. Nevertheless, we’re called to empathy.
Because compassion leads to a strong motivation and action to alleviate or improve the situation, we simply can’t do that for every single person and every single situation. There are some people or problems that will get more of your time and focus.
So what can we do?
We can lean into the gift of Holy Spirit, our Guide and Comforter, to empower us to respond to the call of empathy.
We can make an intentional effort to practice compassion daily with those who are around us.
We can unapologetically express the compassion of Jesus in whatever specific areas we’re called to.
We can destroy mental myopia that minimizes the validity, relevance, or importance of problems (individual and societal) that God has impressed upon others’ hearts and honor each others’ expression of the compassion of Jesus.
Mental myopia: the result from seeing people and situations through an “all or nothing” lens instead of Heaven’s (Kingdom) lens. It is destructive and runs in direct opposition to Kingdom thinking because it discounts the all-powerful nature of our God and the fullness of the King and his kingdom (where He rules with love, grace, truth, righteousness, mercy, and justice).
