Soften up

We are trying to make a more concerted effort in updating the blog. So, as we wait for the visitation report, I just want to share what the LORD has been encouraging me with.

 

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." -Ephesians 4:32

 

There are a couple of things that have been just amazingly convicting to me lately. The biggest is unquestionably the lack of compassion that I have found in myself lately. One of my New Year's resolutions was just simply to be more kind (loving) by acting on the Holy Spirit's leadings in my life. As yesterdays post probably illustrated, I fail daily at this task. I was reading Ephesians 4:32 today, and was just impressed by a couple things.

 

1. Kind and tenderhearted can not be measured. We talk a lot as the church about responsibilities. I think we want a list of our responsibilities, so that we can say that we meet them. How do you meet the standard of tenderhearted? There is no measurable action, emotional response or thought process for us to say that we are tenderhearted. We can say when we have forgiven someone, because it is a response to being wronged. It is just hard to be tenderhearted. The idea behind tenderhearted is having an emotional response that is just amplified to feel the pain of others. I have to ask myself, am I aware of my brothers and sisters' pain to a level that it affects me emotionally? I have to answer that question, most of the time, with a "NO." God calls for more than our own legalistic standard hold us to in our love for one another.

 

2. God constantly reminds us of the great debt that we have been forgiven. Any time that someone has wronged me, I have to remember the crucifixion of our Lord, in which he carried our great debt of wrongs on his shoulders. In no way has any one wronged me in the way that I wronged God. Every sin that I committed was a slight to God's glorious person.  I can't think that some one has done anything to me that was as pernicious as my sin against God. Yet we act that way some time.

 

The world fights against this all the time. We are told to worry about ourselves, and ignore the homeless. We are told that our happiness is the most important thing. I encourage you all, myself cheifly, to pray that God would soften our hearts for his glory and fame. Practically: Feel each others pain. Forgive and forget each others shortcomings.

BD