“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. 32. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:32 is the best description of Christian character that I have found. Of course, one has to take verse 31 seriously before he can apply verse 32. In fact, it would be impossible to practice what is in verse 32 without first applying verse 31. What does verse 32 tell us about Christian character? Kindness – It tells us to be kind to one another. “One another” seems to me to be a reference to our Christian brothers and sisters. Kindness begins in your church fellowship and extends to your daily life. Think of your Christian brothers and sisters, are you kind to them? Do you speak kindly to them, or about them? That is a serious question. Do you act kindly toward them? What about the people at the place where you work. Do you speak kindly to them and treat them kindly? The world is not a kind place, and that is why we need to be kind. This would make us more like Christ, and the world definitely needs Him. Give serious thought to kindness today. Begin with your Christian brothers and sisters and let it extend into your daily life. Compassion – “Tenderheartedness” is another name for compassion. Are you compassionate about your own practice of the Christian faith, and are you compassionate toward your family, etc. This does not just mean that we feel sorry for other people, but that we actually pray for them and care about them. We actually need to be put our compassion to work when the Spirit urges us. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, I imagine that the priest and Levite felt sorry for the beaten man, but they walked on by him. The Samaritan looked at the man, had compassion on him, and put that compassion into action. Jesus gave this parable to remind us of our need to be compassionate. (If you are not familiar with this parable, read Luke 10:29-37.) Forgiveness – In my mind, forgiveness is a result of kindness and compassion. They all work together. We need to search through our minds and think of people that we need to forgive, reaching from earliest memories in our lives to the present time. I did this, and was reminded that I needed to be more forgiving. This so easy to write about, but it is difficult in reality, but we need to do it, for it is part of our Christian character. We are to forgive others as “Christ has forgiven us.” If Christ could forgive us, we should be able to forgive others. Give some thought to kindness, compassion and forgiveness in your own life. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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