Suffering Alongside
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” – Colossians 3:12 Something we should hold in high esteem as Christians is compassion. In fact, the Bible tells us to clothe ourselves with this powerful virtue; to wrap it around us and let it cover every part of our being. But what does it actually mean to be compassionate? While many people think it refers to a manner of immense kindness, in the truest sense, this word translates as “to suffer with.” You see, more than niceties that offer a friendly wave to a person who has fallen into a pit, compassion lays itself aside, climbs into the hole with them, and gets dirty for the sake of understanding where they are and what they are going through. This type of true empathy takes a person on its back and carries
