Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice
And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26 NKJV
Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 2 Corinthians 11:29
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Romans 12:15
This Scripture reminds us about pure love, commitment and devotion towards others. We, as Christians need to love one another to the extent that we actually suffer with others and rejoice when others are honored. Envy and jealousy should have no place in the life of Christians.
We are a family and one body in Christ and the genuineness of our faith is proved when we have empathy towards one another and practice altruism. The promotion and blessing of another should make us rejoice and the suffering of others should make us sad.
Feeling other peoples pain and selfless concern for the wellbeing of others is a necessary emotional intelligence tool and emotional skill that we must embrace to be more Christlike.
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Judging from my experiences over the years, people are more likely to rejoice when others rejoice (and whether or not that is without jealously I can not say). However, when it comes to mourning, I see a huge problem between the injunction ‘mourn with those who mourn’ and what people actually do.
All to often I run into the following scenario: Someone is grieving and/or hurting, be it because a death or a serious illness. Well meaning Christians come over and start reciting Bible verses about faith and trust. Talking from experience, that is not what is needed. Needed are those who can mourn with those who mourn. As harsh as this may sound, but sharing Bible verses with the hurting individual is not mourning with them. It is often a veiled form of judgement, or more likely, just a person hiding behind the Bible because they don’t know how to mourn.
Often, people just need a non-judgemental ear that will listen to their pain, no matter how ‘un-trusting’ it may sound. When people start just sharing Bible verses about faith and trust instead of just sitting and listening, or just sitting, they are in effect judging the person and condemning them for ‘a lack of faith.’ This isn’t what is meant, but it often is so seen by a person in the depth of pain.
That should not be! We serve a mighty God! He knows our lives. He understands our needs and the seasons we go through. He carries the hurting person even when they are expressing doubt and concern. They have to mourn! The time will come for building more faith as one gets through the mourning.
So, mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. As you so well expressed in an recent post, consider others more important than yourself!
And I’ll end this with a quote from this post:
“Feeling other peoples pain and selfless concern for the wellbeing of others is a necessary emotional intelligence tool and emotional skill that we must embrace to be more Christlike.”
– Yosef
Thank you so much for this very insightful and enlightening contribution. Could not have been said any better – most of the time fellow believers judge and criticize people who are sick or undergoing other challenging situations. They tell them they do not have faith.
I also experienced this myself several years ago when I battled with stomach ulcer. They would just tell me, ‘You don’t have faith.’ And I was left feeling that they did not care. One of the people who said that to me also developed stomach ulcer and I never said that to him. I showed empathy and compassion. Eventually, the Lord told me I needed to spend more time in His presence. It was not a faith problem but a waiting upon the Lord problem. God wanted me to spend more time in His presence and immediately I started doing that the Ulcer left and I started experiencing His glory. His presence makes us whole and brings liberty.
The attitude of judging others and not showing care and empathy is common among Christians but with more grace and commitment towards being Christlike, we can all learn to love better.
Your comment is full of wisdom and grace. Blessings ❤️❤️🙏
Sorry you had to experience that and a wonderful story of how God made it right.
Thank you so much for the kind words. Yes, God made it right. He is a loving and faithful God. Blessings ❤️❤️❤️🙏
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Your post made me think of an incident where I felt selfless empathy. I was deeply touched one time when a dear friend started crying when we were praying through a traumatic time in my life. He just looked at me and explained how it hurt him to see me in so much pain and he wished God would ease my pain. It was such a selfless act, so Christlike.
Thank you so much for the very inspiring response. That was a high level of empathy that was shown by your friend. It’s so good to hear of such selfless, Christlike acts by Christians. May God give us the grace to show such empathy to one another and be vessels of the love of God. Blessings ❤️❤️❤️🙏