Kind, Tender, Forgiving

Ephesians 4: 32

And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
And finally, be nice, for this is the way of a mature Christian.

Yesterday we read Paul’s directions for the attitudes and expressions we must avoid. Today he shows us the contrast. He said don’t be a party to bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor (complaining), slander and malice. Now he is saying do be kind, tender-hearted and forgiving.

Think about tender-hearted for a moment. That would be the exact opposite of being hard-hearted. You will see the tender heart evidenced in compassion, empathy and sympathy. When something happens to someone else whether that event be large or small, a tender-hearted person would feel compassion for the other person and then would likely express that compassion in gentle words. A tender-hearted person would feel the effect of that event on the other person. A person who is tender-hearted feels things. Their heart is easily touched. This does not mean that they are a slave to their feelings. They just have the ability to understand legitimate emotion. You cannot be hard-hearted and walk as Jesus walked because he was a man of great compassion. We need to allow ourselves to be moved by the condition and situation of others. We don’t become enablers in the dysfunctional sense, but we can respond from a heart of compassion. It is possible to balance these things. Jesus certainly did.

And if you think anyone has done you wrong, forgive them. How many times, really, do we need to hear this? Once a day perhaps. Look, it’s not all about you. It is not about what you wanted, what you thought or what they did to you. It is not even about what they said about you. Let it go. They are fascinated with you because their own life is so boring or messed up. Don’t get in their muck with them by getting all steamed up at their bad acts. Let them wallow in the muck and mire if they must, but get yourself into your place with Jesus far above and beyond all the filthiness of this world. Let your heart of compassion forgive them and for goodness sake pray for them. They really need it.

Be kind, be gentle, be forgiving. It is the way.

All My Life

Psalm 71: 5 – 7, 14

For you are my only hope, Lord! I’ve hung on to you, trusting in you all my life. It was you who supported me from the day I was born, loving me, helping me through my life’s journey. You’ve made me into a miracle; no wonder I trust you and praise you forever! Many marvel at my success, but I know it is all because of you, my mighty protector! No matter what, I’ll trust in you to help me. Nothing will stop me from praising you to magnify your glory!

David wrote this as he was getting older. You will see that in the context of the entire psalm. By looking at the psalms in a concentrated way we have come to have a sense of David’s passions and his personality. Now, we begin to compare and contrast young David with an older, more seasoned version of himself. By this point in his life, he has lived out his theology. What may have been statements of faith earlier are now proven facts. He has seen the glory of the Lord. He has seen the power of God demonstrated in his life over and over. The Lord rescued him time after time and this David is not just a passionate believer but has earned his stripes as an ardent, convinced devotee of the Almighty.

In this psalm we see David looking back upon his life recognizing the fingerprints of Yahweh throughout his life. He trusted God when he was young and full of the verve of youth. By the time of this writing, David had, not only belief, but years of experiencing God’s victorious companionship.

I often ask what makes us different from David. His walk with God is enviable. I think it fair to say that throughout his life Yahweh was his best friend. Necessity required him to rely on God but before he was anointed as king, before Saul chased him around the desert, He slew a giant. He told Goliath that he came in the name of the Lord and that alone was sufficient for triumph. Did God continually show up in David’s life because of David’s attitude and faith? What of Daniel? When they pulled him from the lion’s den, there was not a scratch on him. What about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Not even fire could separate them from the love of God?

What makes the lives of these individuals so spectacular? God is not respecter of persons (Acts 10: 34). Is the answer contained in these psalms? Is it portrayed in the life of David? What do you think made giants out of ordinary people? And more to the point, can we have this type of life now? Is God dead? Has He moved? Or is the God of David alive and well and just as much in love with us as He was with David? Click on the comment section and share your thoughts.

Clearly Defined

Ephesians 4: 31 – 32

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

In verse thirty, Paul told us to grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. His very next words seek to further instruct us in how to avoid distressing God’s Spirit. Put all of these things away from you; bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice. Don’t have them around you at all because they should not be part of the mature Christian’s walk.

Most of us know, or at least have a good idea what bitterness, wrath and anger are but I found that I was reading right over clamor without giving it much attention. Then slander stands out to me because it refers to the spoken word, reminding us again about the words of our mouth. Then there is malice, about which most have a rough idea as to its meaning.

Stopping to look up each of these words in the dictionary, I realized that there is much more meaning in this scripture than we might, at first reading, appreciate. Look at the Webster’s definition for each of these terms.

Bitterness: sharp and disagreeable; harsh; severe; piercing. 2) characterized by strong feelings of hatred, resentment, cynicism.

Wrath: intense anger; rage; fury 2) any action carried out in great anger especially for punishment or vengeance.

Anger: a feeling of displeasure resulting from injury, mistreatment, opposition, etc., and usually showing itself in a desire to fight back at the supposed cause of this feeling.

Clamor: a loud outcry; uproar 2) a vehement, continued expression of the general feeling or of public opinion; loud demand or complaint. In its verb form – to make a clamor- cry out, demand, or complain noisily.

Slander: the utterance in the presence of another person of a false statement or statements, damaging to a third person’s character or reputation.

Malice: active ill will; desire to harm another or to do mischief; spite. 2) evil intent.

One can easily see the consistency in Paul’s discourse. Here he is again encouraging us to curb our language and restrain our tempers. This verse expounds on what he wrote in the previous text. Here we go deeper into the meanings of his former instructions. We see that clamor amounts to complaining and I think the idea of loud complaining draws up an image with which we are all familiar.

We are not to be cynical and skeptical. We are not to complain about others or speak in a way that is disparaging to their character. Well, we know that from verse 29 which says to only use our words in a way which edifies others. We are not to be harsh or sharp which means we are to be gentle. Nor are we supposed to strike back from a sense of being wronged. Staying apart from wrath includes avoiding any action carried out in anger.

I encourage you to keep this list for the future so that you can look back at it from time to time. These definitions will have different meaning for you at different moments of your development. You will see different significance depending on what is going on in your life at the time. The message that I think will consistently ring out through these words is, “Get a tight rein on your words and your anger.” Those two ideas are embedded in the definition of the six words.

Lastly, the definition above for slander is the world’s definition. I would suggest that God’s instruction to us may draw us to a higher standard than the legal definition of slander. In the legal sense, one must utter false statements in the hearing of another which have the effect of damaging a third person’s reputation. I believe God would even restrain you from speaking true statements about someone else that have the effect of damaging a person’s reputation. This is especially true when your motive is to tear them down or damage their image in the eyes of someone else. Please recall that we are instructed to only say those things which are good for edification of others. Therefore, even if the statements you make are true, if you are harming another in the utterance of them or you have the intent to harm them or their reputation, then I believe you are in disobedience to God and risk grieving the Holy Spirit. Keep your words holy because Jesus is “The Word” and He is holy.

No Grief Please

Ephesians 4: 30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

There is continuity in Paul’s teaching to the Ephesians. He begins at a basic place; redemption. Paul tells us to put on the new self that was won for us through Christ’s victory. He continues through the other verses we have looked at building upon each preceding verse; the foundation being Christ himself. Paul teaches us about truth, anger, righteousness and the tricks of the devil. Then he instructs us to keep our mouths from speaking anything except that which is edifying. No sooner does he give us instruction about the way we use our language than he tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In other words, we have the ability to grieve the Holy Spirit and one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is to speak in a way that is not consistent with truth (which is Jesus) and love (which is God 1 John 4: 8).

We must begin to take these things seriously. The Lord is showing us that it is important to Him that we guard our mouths, that we treat each other kindly, that we act in ways that are becoming of the children of God. Really now, none of us wants to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. That is a horrible prospect. But we don’t take these other instructions of God seriously at times. We say any stupid thing that comes to our minds. We say unkind things about others and we even lie. Even if you are telling the truth, if it does not edify then it should go unsaid lest you grieve the Holy Spirit. Do you really want to cause our God and Father grief? Then begin to take seriously His instruction to you. Don’t take the Bible as just printed words on a page but instead see the living, breathing Word of God. Take His word to heart and let it change you. Let it guide and instruct you.

Edifying Moment

Ephesians 4: 29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

We left off last week, in our Ephesians series, talking about how to react when angered. Here is what Father God would have you do when you are angry. Rather than giving place to the devil we are supposed to say things which are edifying. To edify means to build up. In other words, we are to speak those words which build up others rather than tearing them down.

Now really, this is not hard to understand, just kinda hard to do at times, but with Jesus all things are possible. I do not begin to say that you should do this in your own strength but rather that you should surrender your will to Jesus and let Him be the graciousness you need. And do you see that God will give all grace to all who are in need? He will fill the space with his grace where previously your old self would have filled the air with blue streaks. Now by humility and prayer a bad situation becomes a time of grace and blessing. When you yield your will to God, He is able to take all that is bad and turn it into the beauty of who He is.

In your time of need, before you give voice to your emotions, pray for the Lord of Hosts to be God of the situation, God of the moment and God of all that you are. Pray for Him to move in His grace rather than you moving in your emotions. You will see incredible moves of the Lord when you yield to His leading in such times.

Gladness

Psalm 70: 4

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad because of you. Let those who love your salvation continually say, “God is great!”

This is a good meditation. Can those who seek Yahweh really be glad? Is there really something in seeking Him which can bring us joy? Our theology says so but does our life, our attitude, our words? Do we go about proclaiming, “God is great!”

I think we believe it but in our busy days we are not always in touch with the deep thoughts of our own minds and hearts. David’s world was more focused and though tumultuous, at some level I think it was simpler. The variety of distractions in our lives pulls us away from our own deep thoughts and there is little time for quiet contemplation. Dr. Caroline Leaf says we rarely pause to think any more and if that is true, how do we know what we think?

How much time do any of us spend engaged with our heart and our emotions? Do we seek our inner self to find what beats in our hearts? How is it that we can seek God if we haven’t taken the time to know ourselves? And then, who are we in Him?

I think we will rejoice when we seek God and find that He is closer to us than we previously perceived. I believe we will be glad as our seeking draws us into a deeper relationship with Him. As He becomes more of our every day, we do find peace and joy. The greatest part of this is that there is no limit to the extent of closeness we can achieve with the Father. Our walk with Him today may be far superior to that of yesteryear and yet, a mere shadow of tomorrow’s intimacy.

If there is one thing our faith walk requires, it is seeking the Father’s face. When we seek Him, we find all because He is all. When we find Him in greater measure today than yesterday, we find more of His goodness and the joy is a mere by-product of being with the Father. Seek with all your heart and that heart will rejoice and be glad.

Angry Expression

Ephesians 4: 26 -27

Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

This is the verse I have been working my way towards for several days now. The point of all of this is for Paul to tell us not to give the devil an opportunity in our lives. An opportunity for what? Well, Jesus told us in John 10: 10 that the devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Therefore, we want to keep the door closed to the devil so that he cannot kill us, steal from us or otherwise destroy us, our families or our lives. That is what all of this has been building up to.

We saw Paul teaching the Ephesian church to put away their old selves in which they were deceived by the lusts and desires that the devil tempts with. He told them in putting away their old selves they should put on the new self that was purchased by the shed blood of Jesus. It is that blood by which we have become the righteousness of God. We are to live in truth, which is Christ, and put aside, for all time, the ways of the devil. We are to walk like Jesus rather than act like the devil. Then Paul sets the anchor pin by telling us not to give into anger.

Culturally we have completely overlooked this command. We constantly vent our anger and act out. Many people have heard the first two words of verse 26 but stopped there. We’ve got to read to the end. Paul knows that you are going to feel anger at times, but he is telling you not to give vent to it. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t rage, don’t tell everyone and their brother about this thing that has angered you or the person that you think has done you wrong.

He just finished telling us that we are the righteousness of God and holiness through the truth which is Christ. Do you think he is then telling us to allow anger to run amok in our life? Surely not. No, rather in verse 29 he goes on to say, “let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth” which is exactly what will happen if you let anger have its way with you. When you open your mouth you are going to give the devil something to work with and he is going to run amok with it.

I want you to see the completeness and the construction of Paul’s instruction. He is showing us how to overcome the devil’s machinations. He is protecting his own flock by showing them how to defeat the wiles of the devil. Don’t give anger a place in your life. Put that anger down. Do not carry it into the next day. For that matter, you are to overcome the anger before the sun sets. Do not let that anger rule you. As soon as you let the anger have expression in your life you are going to say things you ought not, and you are going to give the devil an opportunity. And believe you me, if you give him an opportunity, he is going to take it. He is going to steal something from you. Let the expression of anger and lying lips be part of the old man that you bury forever. Put on the truth and righteousness of Jesus so that you may live a life of victory over the trickery of the devil. Be free from the sin that continually binds you to disappointment, frustration and defeat. Receive this instruction into your spirit from a loving Father who gives it as a means to protect you.