Hey, Y'all,
Ran across today's thought (based on a message by Jon Walker on PurposeDrivenLife.com) and I was again struck by the (re-)realization that we're supposed to be treating each other well as a central tenet of our Christianity (as opposed to...). So how does this hit you?
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Ephesians 4:2
Humorist Dave Barry says, "A perfect parent is a person with excellent child-rearing theories and no actual children." The same could be said of a perfect world or a perfect family; there's one sure way to mess things up: people!
Living with imperfect people requires patience, and you -- now, I say this as a friend -- are one of those imperfect people who requires patience. Oh, and BTW, I'm an imperfect person too. Patience means putting up with me when you'd rather lose your temper; it means forgiving me when you'd rather nurture a grudge. Patience is love in action because "love is patient" (1 Corinthians 13:4).
Now hear this: patience and a critical spirit are mutually exclusive. Even when your complaints are justified, it is patience that pulls (or pushes :-) you toward forgiving and forgetting: "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense" (Proverbs 19:11).
Being patient may try our patience, but we become stronger when we learn to love imperfect people. And that's where the first part of this passage comes in to play -- being completely humble and gentle -- because you can be no other way when truly you realize that you too are in need of being borne with in love.
More on this next post, but in the meantime,
you've been prayed for today...
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