Empathy

Everyone has a story.

I don’t always remember that others don’t share my experiences. Even someone I think I know well is likely dealing with circumstances I can’t really understand.

And the person I’m so quick to judge because they’re obviously on the other team – I too frequently forget that their background and beliefs aren’t mine.

The easy way is to simply dismiss all that. I’m right, everybody else is wrong. The end.

Jesus could’ve chosen the easy way. Instead, he stepped into your story and my story because – to Him – we’re worth it.

Then He offered an invitation. “Follow me.”

It’s an invitation to the difficult path of empathy, trying to step into the story of someone else, someone who’s “not like you,” someone with whom you may disagree.

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I wonder – could I step into the story of a trafficker, one of the people who enslaved or even abused one of our beautiful little kids?

It’s what the Project Rescue staff does every day. Through their Outreach Center, they offer no-strings-attached medical care and other services. They do the difficult, painstaking, long-term work of establishing trust and relationships with people you and I might reject as hopeless, undeserving criminals.

Through their efforts, a number of these folks have turned away from their criminal life and decided to follow Jesus. A few are part of the Project Rescue staff.

I don’t know if I could demonstrate that sort of empathy. Could you?

When I was undeserving, that’s what Jesus did.