I asked the Lord how can I love Him who has everything. To me worshipping Him was not enough or falling down before Him with carpet time. When I interact with my friends and family I don’t break out into song to sing their praises. I don’t declare to heavenly hosts how awesome they are before everyone and neither do I fall down on my knees with my hands raised to them. They would most likely feel awkward. So doing this in my relationship with Him just didn’t seem to be enough or that there was too much artifice in it. One more person in His creation worshipping Him was not going to knock it out of the park in terms of elevating Him in my heart. I wanted to more organically and less theatrically love Him and interact with Him. Words can’t express how much He has done for me and how much I have felt His love. How can I love back? How can I hug thin air? His answer was astonishing and something we all know.
He reminded me of this scripture in Mat 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.”
He said in so many words that loving everyone alive was loving Him. I then felt so very emotional about this as I envisioned all the various people being His love objects. Words don’t do justice to what I was feeling. I felt compassion, care, acceptance, passion, sorrow, grieving, longing. I didn’t know what to call that, but it lingered with me every time I thought about this profound truth. I was so very deeply moved and shaken by this for a few days. It passed by in a flash and nearly floored me where it kind of disturbs me in a challenging kind of way. It then occurred to me that the Lord let me feel and experience His personal emotions in regards to every person. I experienced a tiny intimate sliver of His being. I empathized with Him standing in His shoes. He let me feel His heart for the world in a few nanoseconds. I could see how deep His love was for every person and so this compassion, care, acceptance, passion, sorrow, grieving, longing that I picked up from His heart can be summarized in one word – Empathy. He empathizes with us. He is the god of Empathy. The God who is with us.
Hebrews 4:14 – Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.
He said He loves everyone – equally. He said to be at peace with all men knowing He loves all mankind. His love is all encompassing and that there is no depth of darkness where His love will not go. He said that love is not tolerance, but being right there with them that need it. He said His deepest empathy for all was ultimate where we can’t really bear the brunt of it to the point of sacrifice like Him. He alone could and did go there for us.
We need His help to love and be present with the unlovable and He says the first step is patience where we suspend judgment. It’s there where we find understanding and this turns to forgiveness and kindness. Turning the other cheek makes sense in the light of this. I was so challenged by His response that to love others was to love Him. We are surrounded by unreasonable people impacting us in various ways throughout our lives and even currently. He understands why everyone does what they do and how they got there. He wants us to enter into empathy with Him and be like Jesus. Be like good shepherds. Being like Him is to hug and hold Him.
I John 4:19-21 – We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.