Empathy part 1
This one is easy for me, because for whatever reason I can almost always see both sides. Its not a hard thing for me to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. But I also think its vitally important. Because the purpose of walking a mile in someone else's shoes is understanding them. Remember I keep saying, "Seek first to understand"? Well, I got that from the seven habits of leaders at my kid's elementary school. And the entire habit goes like this, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." In other words, put others first. Don't come is swinging, trying to make things the way you think they should be all the time. Love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way, right? And, it should go without saying, I'm NOT saying you shouldn't stand for things. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. But there's a diference between standing FOR something, and always being AGAINST things. There's a difference between doing what you need to do for you, and forcing your ideas on others. I have never had even the smallest inclination to make people believe what I believe. In fact, other than my books, and Rants, and videos... I usually don't even tell people what I believe. Even if you ask me I'm going to take a minute to decide whether I think you actually want to know... or if you want to argue about it. Because if you want to argue about it, well, I don't. But my point is, you can believe what you want and still fellowship with people who don't agree. And that's even if you DON'T have empathy towards them. That's even if you have no interest in seeing where they're coming from. You can still love people no matter what. Can... and should. But, as always, there's a more excellent way. Seeking to understand is how we make connections with people. And, again, you don't have to agree in order to understand. Let me drop some Bible on this Rant. "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might be all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). That's just a snippet of the passage, and we'll probably get deeper into it in the next couple of days. But I wanted that "all things to all men" phrase. Because you can't reach everybody the same way. I have a certain few people in my life that I can text a memory verse to and it will really help. And I have a lot of other people in my life that I can text funny pictures to and THAT will help. Its about knowing who you're dealing with. Understanding people. Playing to your audience, if I can say it that way. And that doesn't mean the message changes. The message is love. But people love in different ways, and they receive love in different ways. So you need to meet them where they're at. That's what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 more than anything else. He was urging us to have some empathy. To stop judging people and start loving people. Remember when he wrote about not eating certain things in order to keep a brother from stumbling? Even though his own conviction was that everything is good to eat once its been blessed. But his point was to put others first. Don't do something that will offend someone else. Be kind (please rewind). Think about it from their point of view. Be selfless instead of selfish. Christ-centered (PEOPLE-centered) instead of self-centered. Have some understanding. Make a connection. And in that way love people better!