Resilience: It’s Time to Get UpPrimjer

Jesus was empathetic. Just like Mary and Martha loved Lazarus and lost him, Jesus, too, loved him and lost him. When they wept, He wept. But the story does not stop there. Sympathy and empathy are but two components of a progression that is set in motion by resilience. Before long, the act of being aware of another’s struggle and identifying that struggle with your own creates inertia that leads to external acts of compassion.

Jesus did not merely weep with Mary and Martha and head home to mourn His dear friend. His empathy prompted him to act.

Jesus gazed into Heaven and said, “Father, thank you that you have heard my prayer, for you listen to every word I speak. Now, so that these who stand here with me will believe that you have sent me to the earth as your messenger, I will use the power you have given me.” Then with a loud voice, Jesus shouted with authority: “Lazarus! Come out of the tomb!” (John 11:41-43, TPT).

The resurrection of Lazarus is the overflow of Jesus’ empathy and compassion. It is that same compassion that motivated Him to leave Heaven and take on the form of a man.

And it was compassion that compelled Him to endure the suffering of the cross.

Many bystanders who watched Him suffer on that tree wondered why He didn’t use His power to come down from the cross. They didn’t realize that it was the power of compassion that kept Him on the cross. It was the ultimate expression of resilience — a catalytic expression of compassion that impacted all of humanity for all of time.

That, my friend, is the treasure of resilience. You, too, can experience the inertia of sympathy and empathy that leads you to compassionately impact the world around you. Resilience has never been a commodity you keep to yourself. It is intended to overflow, spilling into the lives of those around you.