I’m a very empathetic person. In the past, and even sometimes now, it’s hard for me to discern where the experience of another person ends and my own emotions begin. I’ve learned this about myself recently. I haven’t always known this about myself.
Throughout the years, I’ve struggled with feeling intense pain for others, based on what I can observe about their experiences and what I am discerning about their emotional conditions, through my spirit, led by the spirit of God.
This simultaneous gift, and burden, reminds me of the empathy that Jesus has for all of us. It is a Christ-like quality that I possess, because of my position in Christ.
You may ask, what my position in Christ is. He is my Saviour.
This empathy was demonstrated, as a deliberate plan devised by God the Father, God the Son, who is Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit, to put Jesus, who is God and therefore cannot die, into a human body that could die, to partake of the human experience; setting a perfect human example, in order to, through all combined, reconcile sinful humanity to God who loves us.
Does this sound unbelievable? Does it sound unnecessary? Does it sound too good to be true? The way that you interpret what you’ve just read indicates the position that you’ve taken toward God; however, whatever your intellectual or emotional position toward God, your need for him and to be reconciled to him is unabated.
The apostle Paul, who lived and died for this message, said that he claims to know one thing, Christ crucified, and the forthcoming gospel. Nothing else.
What is the gospel? The gospel means good news. What is good, about this good news, is that there is divine hope for humanity through the person of Jesus Christ. Yeshua.
Friend, as unbelievable as it sounds, if you have not heard, understood and received this gospel, if you have not believed that Jesus is the necessary atonement for your sins and the perfect reconciliation between you and God the Father, reconciliation that you actually need, you are on the way to a devil’s hell for all eternity.
The age that you experience now, in this life on this earth, is a fraction of eternity. You’ve been made for eternity and you’re living in it now. Considering not only the here and now but an endless future in exceptional torment and separation from God, I hope you’ll consider the necessity and the gravity of the gospel.
Additionally considering the here and now, and that the gospel has immediate effects in the life of a believer, not only eternal ramifications, be encouraged that whatever your situation is today, the presence of Jesus in your life will improve upon everything that you experience right now, right here, in the daily problems of life, in the increasing uncertainty and danger of our time.
In the gospel of John, chapter three, in verse 16, is a famous verse: “ for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life”. Jesus himself said that he has come to give us life and to give it to us more abundantly.
These are honest statements. God can be trusted. Jesus is the proof that God’s word can improve upon your today and all of your tomorrows. His empathy is infinitely more perfect and extensive than that of my own, that I referred to earlier, and it extends fully to you.
By, A. Anthony
