#InvisibleIllnessAwareness: An online hashtag representing a community of people with “invisible” illnesses. In reality, this group could contain the community of the church and that of the world. There is the “invisible” within everyone that only God can fully see, for our vision is limited here.

 ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. ¹³ So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:12-13)

Even if “dimly”, do we try to see the invisible through our relationships with one another? Does the greatest of the three—love—lead us to an awareness of others? When we become more aware of others’ difficulties and circumstances, this can result in a greater capacity for compassion, a more caring understanding, and the deeper engagement of empathy. It is an awareness the hashtag group seeks, one that Jesus had in His encounters with others.

¹ So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:1-7)

We can have a mindset like Christ, who became like us by taking on the weakness of human form. The more we are in Christ, the deeper our awareness and outreach will be toward others. It is not a mindset of the society in which we live where personal “ME” interests are the priority. It is a self-sacrificing devotion to follow the path of Christ and become the servant, not the served.

–The leper is on our path. Will we try to see what he feels inside and not just notice his outer wounds?

–A blind man passes by with his white cane. Do we seek to understand his darkness?

–The woman who held her head up with worth suddenly looks to the ground as she passes those who begin to mock her. Are we able to feel her pain and fear?

–A child stares, wide-eyed, unmoving as her parents fight profanely, angrily. Can we see the images she has witnessed in her young life–and weep?

How do we look to the interests of these–and others?

With empathy.

Prayerfully.

Seeking wisdom from the Lord.

Having an awareness of the invisible.

Seeing with the compassion of Jesus.

 

(Sharon G. Tate blog 07/21/19)  teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word