Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Empathize with three things…


We’re looking at the secret of peace in our relationships.

Romans 15:2 (LB), "We must bear the burden of being considerate of the doubts and fears of others." 

Philippians 2:4 (Ph), "None of you should think only of his own affairs, but consider other person's interests also."

Notice "doubts", "fears", "interests" – these are the three things you need to empathize with if you value a relationship.  If you want to make peace you need to empathize with these three things. 

Whenever there is conflict in a relationship, it's usually because you're not sympathizing, you're not being considerate of other people's doubts when you "have no doubts about it", or other people's fears when you're "not afraid of it", or other people's interests when you "couldn't care less about it".  But if you care, you will be aware.  These are the three things that you have to empathize with. 

Other people's fears.  You may not be afraid of it.  You think that's irrational, but you still should say, if they're afraid of it, I'm going to be interested in it.  And their doubts and their interests.

Just a thought from the front porch…

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