My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
As Christians, we’re to love people who are hurting. We are to love those in need. Notice, I said love them—not sympathize with them. Love and sympathy are totally different things. They’re not even kin to one another. Many have not understood the difference between sympathy and love, and hence have not been able to practice our main verse, which was a command of the Master.
Sympathy is a sense of pity that comes from the human mind and emotions.
Sympathy virtually says, “Oh, I feel so sorry for you. I wish there was something I could do for you.” Sympathy seems outwardly sweet, but it has no true power to help. Love, however, is the greatest power of God. It grabs the hand of faith and changes the situation of those in need. Love acts and doesn’t just speak or muse.
James explaining about faith said something remarkable: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16). Faith acts. And faith works with love.
Brethren, don’t just be sympathisers, be lovers; because God has called you to be His agents of love.
Confession:
Dear Father, I thank you for your love that’s deposited in my heart by the Holy Spirit! That love radiates through me to everyone in my world today, in Jesus Name. Amen