When you are empathetic you are sacrificing time you could have spent thinking of yourself and your life plans, you are sacrificing that time to dedicate to a human being and their needs.
Jesus is a symbol of sacrifice. We are asked to love our neighbor.
Although listening to that homeless man mumble may appear like a waste of time, you still did and walked away thinking you took nothing from that interaction. The reality of it is, for that invisible person of the streets, that evening you were a god.
That time wasted was actually spent in divinity, as close as I think we can get to it in this physical form.
For a moment that particular indigent wasn't dangerous, he wasn't smelly or an inconvenience, he wasn't an absent father or a drug addict, he was not a vet or a firefighter. That man in that alleyway wasn't even a man, he wasn't even human, he was real.
I saw my mother give away everything she could. My mother is sick, she might even need medication. But the sickness my mom has is feelings, feelings can shorten her vision, and the feeling she struggles the most with is empathy.
The rest of my family is concerned about my mom's future, so am I. They think she doesn't have common sense as far as money goes and today I explained to them that she doesn't lack common sense, what she has is a complete detachment from money. My mother understood at one point that her happiness is directly tied to the happiness of others, so she just gives everything away, not just money.
Her understanding is correct, our happiness is tied to the happiness of others. The understanding that she hasn't arrived at, or the understanding that never found dominance in her thought process, is that she can't possibly help anyone if she's not around.
There are times in which we do have to see for ourselves first and this doesn't mean we're away from god. A car taken for an oil change is just getting the maintenance it needs to provide transport for longer, to fulfill its purpose.
You should absolutely be of service, be divine, think with the same love about another's situation as you would for your own situation. But think rationally as well...understand that sometimes the only call to service is in lending an ear free of judgment or giving the benefit of the doubt.