As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6
I’ve heard it said about the weather
in Florida, if you don’t like it, just wait a couple of hours; it will
change. Having patience is a little bit
like waiting for the weather to change.
In moments of unpleasantness in our relationships, it’s easy to let the
stress of the moment get the best of us.
We can say things we don’t mean, conjure up all kinds of horrible
stories about the other person, or even do things that we will later
regret. Paul, writing to people in Ephesus,
encourages them in such times to go deeper; “Be completely humble and gentle; be
patient, bearing with one another in love.”
This sounds great but really, how
do we do this. I have to confess that
I’m no expert. I struggle with
this. However, Paul gives us some clues. First, he says be humble and gentle. This is a predisposition. In other words, it involves a decision
beforehand to act humbly and gently. I
need to stress the beforehand part. Before
the heated moment comes, it has to be already decided that, when that moment
comes, remaining humble and gentle is the plan.
Otherwise, the tendency will be not to act, but to react. This is not easy by any means, but without a
pre-decided course of action, bad reactions are more probable.
The second part of what Paul says
is, “be patient, bearing with one another in love” This is to
remember the goal of our relationships.
We are here to love God and love people.
we can so easily forget that in the midst of a conflict. Getting our way or proving ourselves right
becomes the goal. When that happens,
love is sacrificed. If we can keep our
focus on love as the ultimate goal, we can then be more patient is trying to
work toward a solution in the present issue.
Patience grows out of a commitment to love. In fact, exercising patience is part of what
love does (“love is patient,” 1 Cor 13).
So two practices to work on today:
(1) deciding in advance of a difficult encounter that we will be humble and
gentle and (2) keeping love the primary goal.
Give it a go.
Prayer: God, help us
learn humility and gentleness in our interactions with each other. Help us be patient with each other as you
have been patient with us. Help us keep
love the goal. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for those with Covid-19 and their families.
Song: Let it Be Love
– Lady Antebellum
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