Empathy is obedience to God’s commandment to love each other. In seeking to understand each other, we learn how to best show love to one anotherIf someone is overjoyed, you join in their excitement.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is more than feeling bad for someone who is going through a hard time. It is more than feeling glad for someone who has had success.
Empathy is allowing yourself to feel the same emotions that another person feels—like crawling inside that person to experience their pain or joy.
Empathy is a wonderful skill to develop that allows us to have a unique understanding of what another person is experiencing.
It helps us find the best way to offer comfort and support.
What Does The Bible Say About Empathy?
ROMANS 12:15
When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow.
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2 CORINTHIANS 11:28-29
Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?
EXODUS 23:9
Do not oppress the foreigners living among you. You know what it is like to be a foreigner. Remember your own experience in the land of Egypt.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-4
All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
JEREMIAH 9:1
Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered.
Empathy is deeply identifying with the emotions of another person and responding to them in the proper way. If someone is in pain, you feel their pain with them.
ISAIAH 63:9
In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.
HEBREWS 5:2
And because he is human, he is able to deal gently with the people, though they are ignorant and wayward. For he is subject to the same weaknesses they have.
ROMANS 8:26-27
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
GALATIANS 1:4
He died for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.
ISAIAH 53:12
I will give him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.
1 PETER 3:18
Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
HEBREWS 2:9
What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. What we do see is Jesus, who “for a little while was made lower than the angels” and now is “crowned with glory and honor” because he suffered death for us. Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone in all the world.
ROMANS 5:6, 8
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners . . . But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
ROMANS 8:34
Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:26
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
How Is God Empathetic Toward Me?
God sent his Son, Jesus, to earth as a human being in order to fully experience the human condition.
You can’t say that God doesn’t understand or feel your hurt and pain, for Jesus suffered great hurt and pain. His heart breaks when your heart breaks.
God created the full range of human emotions, and has experienced the full range of human emotions. He understands your weaknesses, your fears, and your joys.
But even more than that, his empathy for you moved him to create a way for you to experience eternal joy, free from all pain and suffering.
How Can I Show More Empathy Towards Others?
1. Open up to God’s empathy
The more you experience the empathy of God, the source of all mercy and comfort, the more you will be equipped to show empathy to others.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-4
All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
PHILIPPIANS 2:1
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic?
1 PETER 1:22
Now you can have sincere love for each other as brothers and sisters because you were cleansed from your sins when you accepted the truth of the Good News. So see to it that you really do love each other intensely with all your hearts.
2. Realise your need for God’s mercy
The more you realize your desperate need for God’s mercy, the more you will understand the power of showing mercy to others. Recognizing our need for God’s compassion moves us to act with compassion toward others.
1 JOHN 3:18
Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.
GALATIANS 6:2
Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
3. Become vulnerable
Empathy involves vulnerability. It isn’t a detached understanding. It’s a shared emotion. Sometimes, empathy requires opening yourself to others’ pain and sadness.
JEREMIAH 9:1
Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered.
HEBREWS 13:3
Don’t forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:26
If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
4. Extend help to others
Being empathetic is more than just being concerned about others’ troubles, it is moving to help them in their time of need.
ROMANS 12:15
When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow.
LUKE 6:31
Do for others as you would like them to do for you.
You can help others in ways you would like to be helped. When you don’t know what to do, ask yourself what you would want someone to do for you in that situation.
HEBREWS 10:33
Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things.
You can show more empathy by feeling deeply what another person is going through.
5. Help others you don’t know too
We can show more empathy by helping anyone who is in need—not just people we like and are comfortable around. Jews and Samaritans were enemies, yet in Jesus’ parable, the Samaritan goes out of his way to help the Jewish man. Jesus calls us to do the same.
LUKE 10:36-37
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Why Is Empathy Important In Relationships?
1. Empathy unites the church
1 PETER 3:8
Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds..
JOB 2:13
Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.
Empathy isn’t about solving a problem—it’s about coming alongside someone. Sometimes, a silence that says “I’m here” is all that needs to be said.
EXODUS 23:9
Do not oppress the foreigners living among you. You know what it is like to be a foreigner. Remember your own experience in the land of Egypt.
MARK 2:1-5
When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
Conclusion
Empathy helps us be more attentive and sensitive to others. True empathy moves us to action and helps us show the love of Christ to others
Olusegun Iyejare is a career coach and certified counselor. He helps individuals discover and maximize their potential to live satisfying lives regardless of obvious limitations holding them back.
