Quotes about Empathy

Harboring bitterness against people is actually confessing their sin to myself, over and over again. Anger is akin to confessing their sin to God, dissatisfied that he hasn't done something and placing myself in his position as judge.

You are most humble and gentle when you think that the person you are ministering to is more like you than unlike you. When you have inserted yourself into another category that tends to make you think you have arrived, it is very easy to be judgmental and impatient.

You will treat the weaknesses and failures of others with grace when you humbly admit that you're more like them than unlike them.

fact is that no one gives grace better than someone who is convinced that he needs it, as well.

Scripture never looks down on the sufferer, it never mocks his pain, it never turns a deaf ear to his cries, and it never condemns him for his struggle. It presents to the sufferer a God who understands, who cares, who invites us to come to him for help, and who promises one day to end all suffering of any kind once and forever.

I've accepted the fact that I'm going to be a sad man for the rest of my life because I get calls all the time of the saddest things that are happening in the church.

The world we live in is a house of pain, and we cannot live in it without it touching us. You will never be smart enough to escape its grasp. From the violence of childbirth to cut fingers and scraped knees, from sibling mockery and peer rejection to familial brokenness, suffering is part of every phase of human existence. We enter life through suffering's door and we exit life through suffering's door.

when you forget the grace that you've been given, it becomes very easy to respond to the people around you with nongrace.

The appropriateness of my responses to others is directly related to the accuracy of my view of myself, and for that there is grace too.

We would prefer to lob grenades of truth into people's lives rather than lay down our lives for them. But this is exactly what Christ did for us. Can we expect to be called to do anything less?

The fact is that no one gives grace better than someone who is convinced that he needs it, as well.

The more you see your sin, the more you will respond tenderly to other sinners and want for them the same grace you have received.