Rejoice and Weep
Romans 12:14 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (ESV)
Here’s a frightening piece of research. On average, we’ll spend almost 17 years of our lives with our faces buried in our mobile phones. That’s 145,800 hours or 33% of our waking hours. It fairly boggles the mind.
Let’s just run those number again. In a 24-hour day, we’re going to sleep, let’s say, eight hours. That leaves 16 waking hours. If we spend half of those at work five days a week and a third of them on our phones that leaves under six hours a day for everything else. Not much!
What’s that doing to our relationships? What’s that doing to your relationships? Marriages are falling apart. Children are going unparented. Deep-rooted psychological and social problems are spreading like a global pandemic. That’s a bleak picture.
What can we, you and I, do to break that cycle? Let’s apply some pre-tech, old-fashioned, biblical, godly wisdom to this desperate social malady:
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (ESV)
In other words, make the time, give yourself the emotional space, to show empathy. Stop. Truly celebrate when your child has a win at sport or achieves some small milestone at ballet. Truly rejoice with those who rejoice. And when someone’s suffering, in your heart suffer with them. Be with them, sit with them and if necessary, weep with them.
Empathy, feeling another person’s joy or pain, is incredibly powerful. It’s a bridge between two people that will stand strong for a lifetime. It’s a bridge between two people that, more often than not, Jesus chooses to walk across.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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