The Bible says:
“For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
— Hebrews 4: 15
To “walk a mile in my shoes” is to spend some time facing the problems I face, feeling the pain I feel, dealing with the trouble, frustration, depression, discouragement, disappointment, and doubt I deal with.
It’s to enter my situation and circumstances and experience what I am experiencing. It’s to know firsthand what I wake up to every morning and live through every day.
We often tell someone who’s been very critical and judgmental of us and who doesn’t have an inkling of what we’re facing to not judge us until they “walk a mile in my shoes.”
The Bible tells us:
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.”
— 1 Corinthians 10: 13
Because each person is different from another there will be variables in our trials and tests, but they’re also so much alike that we can both empathize and sympathize with the sufferer.
Because the choices I’ve made in life are different from the choices someone else has made, I’m not likely to meet with the same situations they meet, but there are many who will. There can always be found someone who’s been there, and done that, and “got a T-shirt.”
Jesus has walked a mile in our shoes and even walked the second mile. He once lived where we now live, walked where we walk, suffered the things we suffer, faced all the many things that we face every day.
There’s nothing we’re going through that He hasn’t gone through. Everything we’re going through that tempts us to turn from the path of obedience to God, Jesus went through but didn’t sin or fail God.
So whatever situation we’re facing we can go to Jesus Christ for help. He will immediately understand and can relate to it because He can remember a time when He faced a similar situation while among us and can give us the strength and wisdom to pass the test and be victorious.
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Contact him by email at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.com.
