Empathy
“‘So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.’”
Today’s Text: Matthew 7:1-12 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The one word that might summarize Jesus’s statement here is “empathy.” Some people just seem to be better at empathy than others. And yet, empathy is also a skill that is learned, and it may be best learned through upbringing.
For someone to learn empathy well, they must experience empathy exercised towards them and also be trained in exercising empathy towards others. And again, the best place to learn empathy is in the family, and from parents who understand the nature of empathy.
When you think about it, everyone has the capacity to understand how other people feel, at least to some degree. All that we really need to do is to consider how we feel in given situations. And so the opposite of empathy is not really the inability to understand how others feel, but the refusal to take how other people may feel into consideration. That being the case, the opposite of empathy is what psychologists call sociopathy.
Sociopaths don’t care about what others feel. And to the degree that they consider what others feel, they do so only to manipulate people to their own agenda. Furthermore, sociopaths have no conscience when it comes to pursuing a self-serving agenda in all things. They become skillful in justifying their self-serving attitude and behavior.
The term “gaslighting” has become popular to describe the strategy of sociopaths. But truth be told, we all practice “gaslighting” in some way or another, given the right situation. (The person who is often found to be accusing others of “gaslighting” may be gaslighting!)
That is to say, sociopathy exists on a spectrum, and all human beings exhibit sociopathic tendencies in varying degrees. Of course, that is because of the sin nature that we are all born with. All that to say, our sociopathic tendencies—based on wherever we might lie in that spectrum in any given situation—is what Jesus came to overcome in the human spirit.
Christ in me leaves no room for sociopathic tendencies.
But because of our sinful nature, “Christ in me” is not the natural condition of our consciousness. That is why we must conscientiously let Christ into “me” every day, every moment of our lives.
Letting Christ into “me” is what enables me to value Christ in “you” more than “me-myself-and-I” apart from Christ.
Father, You are good. No one is good except for You. And no one has any possibility of exhibiting goodness apart from You. I confess that sometimes I want You to leave me alone so that I can act according to “me-myself-and-I.” Help me to see how bad that is for me, so that I may seek to have Christ in “me” always. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
