Tag: trials

Empathy

Posted on by Olaf

The quaint old phrase ‘fellow feeling’ is not used much these days.  The word ‘empathy’ is more in vogue if you are trying to explain something beyond sympathy.  Those kind condolences, that sad smile or hand on a shoulder may convey sorrow that you genuinely feel for a person in grief.  Such sympathy may be shown with flowers, a baked cake or a cup of coffee but it is something less than empathy where that sorrow is deeply known and understood because it has been part of your experience too.  You’ve walked that walk along that path and in those shoes, fully engaged, feeling the slope of the hill of sorrow and the hard ground through the soles.  Comfort from a friend who truly empathises is akin to someone walking with you and carrying your backpack to ease your load.  These swaying reeds speak of God’s empathy with us.

  • ‘The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy’ – Meryl Streep
  • ‘Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms’ – Sterling K Brown

BEARING FRUIT

Posted on by Olaf

Today we speak of the ‘legacy footprint’ that every person leaves.  You could see this as a thing of ecology or of theology.  If you plant an acorn, you can reasonably expect an oak sapling!  If you plant an apple seed, it would be ridiculous to be waiting for lemons!  The DNA of each seed predetermines the fruit that will come in time, given the right conditions.  We are all fruit-bearers during our lives and God our Father is described as ‘the gardener’ watching for the fruit of our lives:

  • ‘By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit’ – Matthew 7:16-18

PERSECUTED … but not abandoned

Posted on by Olaf

From the beginning, Christians have been persecuted for having faith in Jesus Christ.  Today, Open Doors estimated that over 215 million are facing high levels of persecution.  Jesus himself tells us, ‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also’ – John 15:20.  So the oppression against Christians is no surprise to Jesus but every slight, injustice and cruelty against you matters to him: ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven’ – Matthew 5:11-12.

Sadly, persecution is everywhere and is here to stay until the Lord Jesus returns – it may be subtle or flagrant but it is very real.

‘Christians are being persecuted, not just in the Middle East but here in this country’ – Wendy Long (American Attorney).