Context and Empathy

“Context, context, context!” I remember hearing this at a camp I went to in high school. I also heard it in a Bible class while I was in college. In both places they were referring to the Bible and how important it is to read verses in their context. When we forget to look at the context, we lose the ability to fully understand what the writer of that verse was truly trying to convey. We must look at the context in its entirety if we truly want to understand what was intended and what we can take away from it. Often times people take a verse out of context and apply it in a manor that it wasn’t intended and then become angry or disappointed that their situation didn’t turn out the way they wanted it to — based on a verse taken out of context. I think this principle of remembering the importance of the context applies to more than just Bible reading. I think it applies to people too.

Each one of us have been purposefully designed with such intricate detail by God that to think we can fully understand someone else by taking something they said, posted, or did — without the proper context — is foolish! We are each impacted by so many things that when we say, think, or do something there is usually a lot more going on than meets the eye. I think it is too easy to judge others based on such a small piece of information (or misinformation) and forget that we often don’t have the context surrounding what we heard or saw. It’s easy to assume that if you were in the same position as someone else, you would do things a certain way — maybe even a “better” way — but you really have no way of knowing that for sure. Even if you had a similar experience happen to you that allows you to relate to someone else, that doesn’t mean that you both experienced the same thoughts, emotions, etc. because God created everyone so uniquely.

Some people are born with the gift of empathy and others (like myself) have to work harder at learning it. Empathy is what allows someone to see or hear something about another person and not jump to judgy conclusions about them. The reason they can do that is because they are able to understand others and share their feelings with them. An empathetic person doesn’t focus on how they should change someone else, they just jump in with them and go along for the ride. They are able to understand where someone is coming from even if they don’t agree with them. They are able to think in context because they take the time to find out what the context is.

I’m not saying that I have this all figured out because I often forget about context, but I’m learning. As I’ve been reading the Bible lately I’m so struck by the fact that we often view the “bad” guys without remembering to check the context. I’m not saying they aren’t “bad” I just think we could stop and see things from their perspective instead of assuming we’re so much better than them. It is only by the grace of God that any of us have the opportunity to be the “good” guys. We can look at the Pharisees throughout the New Testament and say “Why didn’t they get it?” or look at some of the “heroes” like Moses in Numbers 20 and say “If I were him, I wouldn’t have hit that rock?” or Abraham in Genesis 16 and say, “I would’ve trusted God that Sarah would have a baby in her old age and never considered that the promise would be through Hagar — what a foolish man!” I could go on and on with examples because it is so easy to judge others. You see the kid screaming in the grocery store or the one that can’t sit still during church and you start to think “If that were my kid I’d ________.” The truth is that you have no context as to why the kid is screaming or not sitting still. You most likely don’t know what occurred prior to what you saw. The people in the Bible didn’t have the Bible or they might’ve made different choices. If we were them — without the biblical knowledge that we have — we might’ve made the same choices as them.

I think Pharisees still exist today — we just might not call them by that name. I think there are “heroes” of the faith today that will make decisions people look back on and critique because “Hindsight is always 20/20.” I think that if we all work harder at being empathetic, we’ll find that we have less time to judge others. Instead of playing the “If I were them, I’d __________” game, maybe we acknowledge that life is filled with purposefully designed, unique people with a wide variety of life circumstances and be quicker to learn about them and their “context” instead of looking at them through our own life’s “context.” When we show empathy and have compassion on others, we get to show them the love of Jesus and we get to be more like Him. Again, it does NOT mean that we have to agree and encourage ALL behavior — sin is sin — but we don’t have to approach people in such a way that we turn them away from Jesus instead of using it as an opportunity to show them His love.

Is empathy something you’re naturally gifted with, or is it something that you have to work at? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Song of the Week: This week I chose “Mighty to Save” by Laura Story and “No Man is an Island” by Tenth Avenue North. They’re both a little older, but they’re both so good! Enjoy!