The Power of Compassion
Scripture speaks often about the compassion of our God: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” 1 And as followers of Christ, we are called to the same: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion…” 2
Brené Brown, a leading expert on human emotion, vulnerability, and connection, offers us these definitions of compassion and, relatedly, empathy:
Compassion is the daily practice of recognizing and accepting our shared humanity so that we treat ourselves and others with loving-kindness, and we take action in the face of suffering… Empathy, the most powerful tool of compassion, is an emotional skill set that allows us to understand what someone is experiencing and to reflect back that understanding.3
In other words, when we are acting in compassion, we engage our capacity for empathy as a tool to help us “take action in the face of suffering.”4 Instead of offering our pity or empty well-wishes, we offer our attention. We offer our imagination: putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes, feeling the emotions we might have in their place, and asking what they might wish someone would do for them. And then we offer whatever help we can.
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This is what Christ did for us. His compassion for us led him to live and suffer and offer his healing presence among us, as one of us. This is what we are called to do for our world.
As you read the stories on our blog this month, I invite you to engage your own empathy. Truly imagine life without Christ. Then, ask the Lord to guide your response. Imagine the eternal difference your gift could make. Where will compassion lead you?
1 Psalm 103:8 (NIV)
2 Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
3 Brown, Brené. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience (New York: Random House, 2021), 118.
4 Ibid, 120
