Day 30 - Issue 27
Titus 3:2 NLT
'They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.'
It was Anne Frank who said, “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.” A remarkable girl who died of typhus age just 15 in a concentration camp in 1945, weeks before liberation. In a world of hatred and violence, where she recorded her own hope and despair when in hiding in Amsterdam for two years (1942-44), she recognised the power of love and the hidden depths within humanity for gentleness and kindness.
The power of living God’s way of gentleness can never be exaggerated. Scripture is clear. The choices I make in how I treat others is one distinct measure of the footprint I leave upon this earth.
I am volatile by nature and enjoy verbal confrontation. I want to argue my case and do so passionately. Others have fed back that this can come across as aggression. On first hearing this I naturally strongly disagreed, yet that disagreement itself was forceful and made me consider when passion can seem like aggression. On reflection I came to realise that the difference was that between standing up for an idea I believe in as opposed to going to war with someone else’s perspective.
The Church’s record through history is often a story of speaking against the opinions of others. This merely increases hostility and creates far more heat than light. As Jesus is the light of the world it is best that we, both individually and as a congregation, seek to enlighten with the life of God within. This is best done through adopting a practice of being gentle and humble. It is always less about me and more about God. As John the Baptist said, “He [Jesus] must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” (John 3:30). Have the confidence to live as scripture instructs, and together we can reveal the character of God’s kingdom and its attraction in a conflicted world.
QUESTION: Are there any areas where you lack the confidence to live by God’s instruction because society has gone another way?
PRAYER: Lord, give me courage and give me humility to live for you in this current time.
