Be Kind

All of us can look back at the world of relationships in which we have lived, or, perhaps, are living, and know that we could have chosen a different and better course.  I cannot begin to number all the meetings I have attended as the pastor of a church and there were more than a few which were contentious.  As the years have added up, something which might be called "senior selective amnesia" has erased the memory of most of them.  But, a few linger in my mind.  A few are impossible to forget. 

 

The ones remembered are the ones where I responded to someone around the table with a spirit not even close to kindness.  I must confess to those moments when I chose to speak words which would undermine not just the words of an antagonist, but the antagonist.  In some cases there have been opportunities to speak words which have led to reconciliation, but in some cases, it has not been an option.  Perhaps, there is a kind of eternal punishment in having to remember the words spoken which have left the taste of regret and sorrow in our lives.

 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians,  saying at one place, "...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32)  It is strange that the Apostle is addressing believers within the church and not the pagans out there in the midst of a non-Christian culture.  It would seem those of us in the church, those of us who profess to love Jesus, those of us who know what it is to be forgiven by God, would never be guilty of unkind words or thoughts or actions.  But, we know otherwise.  "Lord, have mercy.  Lord, have mercy, Lord have mercy on me."