Bearing Another's Burden

Empathy for another person's sin is best practiced by remembering your struggle and victory over that sin in Jesus Christ. Empathy, in the spirit of a Christian virtue is heeding the words of Paul, by bearing each others infirmities and giving counsel when their is fault (Gal 6:2-3). Haughtiness is bred when we believe that our own comfort, complacence, or victory belongs to us as a result of our own actions or works. But, the ability to lay claim to victory is birthed by the deception that there had been a battle we won of our own volition. Empathy and therefore true sympathy is possible through knowledge of a single victor, our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 8:37).

If He has not loved us, then we are incapable of loving. Let us not become ensnared by the temptation to convert others to our own clever schemes of fulfillment and devices of gratification, but proclaim the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His victory over sin and death, and a divine transfer of true righteousness to our account.

The Glory of God - Paris Reidhead

I heard this sermon a few years ago. It stirred quite a motion in the depths of my spirit and motivated me to a desire for righteousness. It also motivated me to mission. It at the fabric of it's message summarizes the call to Christian purpose....

Listen to this clip from Paris Reidhead's sermon - Ten Shekels and a Shirt
(HT: The Bravehearted Gospel)