Christian Living
Empathy is a good thing when it helps someone understand and provide an appropriate response in a given situation. However, empathy might just leave someone feeling alone, unloved and uncared for.
Empathy is the ability to relate with and share in people’s feelings and emotions. Empathy requires that one temporarily assumes another person’s position even if only mentally, in order to fully appreciate what the other person is feeling or going through.
The evil of empathy is that it can be a tool for manipulation and enticement. Sorcerers, fortune-tellers, false prophets employ this side of empathy in their trade with an aim to dominate and control.
Do you remember the dialogue between the devil and Eve in the Garden of Eden?
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:1-6 NKJV
According to the devil, God was hoarding a critical source of knowledge (and wisdom) from Adam and Eve. The devil’s apparent empathetic disposition was aimed at making available to them what God wouldn’t give to them….this is how it was presented to Eve.
We very well know how this story ended; God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, they ceded their authority to the devil, they lost fellowship with God, they incured the curse….talk about the evil side of empathy!!!
Someone can show empathy without alleviating a pain or hurt. Sometimes, empathy raises false hope, living a person worse than they were.
Unlike sympathy, empathy can just be a show. Sympathy on the other hand, is participatory, it goes beyond communicating an understanding of thoughts, emotions and feelings, to actually expressing care and love, making a bad situation better.
As it’s commonly said, the difference between empathy and sympathy is the difference between the head (empathy) and the heart (sympathy). Sympathy is showing compassion.
As we see in the following scriptures, compassion is best communicated via actions….
“Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.”
Matthew 18:27 NKJV
“So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.”
Matthew 20:34 NKJV
“And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
Matthew 14:14 NKJV
A compassionate person is distressed by another’s ills, shares in another’s sufferings or pains, shows mercy, forgives, renders help or assistance, shows kindness.
People who invest time and energy listening to other people’s challenges and difficulties without offering any help or assistance, are more empathetic than sympathetic.
In these last days, more than ever before, Christians need to be aware of the evil of empathy. Do not fall prey to it’s manipulative and enticing powers.
Be discerning.
