About a year ago this time we had a major snowstorm. In fact, there was so much snow that as I went out the next morning to survey the damage, I found that there was no way for me to get my car from my garage, down the driveway, and onto the street. I was snowed in. I shoveled what I was able to shovel. I made paths for the dogs to get out and take care of their business, I cleared the stairs, and that was about all I could do.
Then as I stood at the garage opening, and looked down the driveway, (we have a very long driveway) a foolish thought entered my head. It was the same thought that entered my head several times before. It was a thought that got me into trouble in times past. The thought was simply “I can make it. If I get the car rolling fast enough, and stay on the driveway, I can make it to the street. I know I can”. More than anything, it was the thought of being stranded until someone could come and plow the driveway. It was a week before Christmas, it was my last day off, and I HAD to get out and shop. My friend Eric usually plows my driveway when we have a significant snowfall. I knew he had his hands full with plowing his usual accounts, and my snow blower was in its usual state: broken.
There was one thing that was different this time. Somehow, common sense was present. I thought, “I’ll put my boots on and walk down the driveway and get a TRUE perspective of the situation”. I put my boots on and began to walk down the driveway. It took no more than four steps when this message was birthed in my heart. It exploded all at once. As I began to take those steps down the driveway (and the snow got almost up to my knees) the Lord began to show me how we gain a different perspective when we walk in someone else’s shoes.
15For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus is our example. He knows what it’s like to walk in our shoes, because He came down and walked in them. The scripture says He is able to sympathize, because He experienced what we experienced.
Did Jesus experience disappointment? Did he experience loss? He wept at the tomb of Lazarus. One of his inner circle denied he even knew Him. Another sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver. Was Jesus ever sick a day in His life? Let’s look at Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53:3-7(New King James Version)
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
What happened to Jesus wasn’t fair. He did nothing to deserve what happened to Him, yet He chose to embrace it for the sake of someone else. (Mat 26:53) shows us that Jesus could have put a stop to everything, but He didn’t.
I’m not saying for a minute that we need to fully embrace every bad thing that comes across our path; I’m just saying we can choose to learn from it.
Have you ever had someone say to you, “I know how you feel” and you knew they didn’t have a clue? How can you possibly relate to someone when you have never experienced what they have experienced? I think that’s one reason why Jesus was so often able to be “moved with compassion”; at one point, He had “been there”.
How many of us have suffered sickness? How many of us have suffered the loss of a loved one? It’s never a positive situation. We CAN however, use the power of remembrance when we see it happen in someone else’s life to be able to really IDENTIFY with the loss or the pain they are experiencing. We can then use it to allow compassion to overtake us for someone else and minister to them as only someone that has experienced what they are experiencing. There’s really no substitute for experience.
More to come.