"Always be humble and gentle.
Be patient with each other,
making allowances for each other's faults
because of your love."
In this verse, those words, "humble" and "gentle" grabbed my attention and so I did a little Greek word study:
- "humble" - "not pushy", "happy and content when we are not in control", "modesty", in the English we could say "unassuming" "give others credit".
- "gentle" - "meekness, humility, humble"...I found it interesting that the two words, humble and gentle in this one verse have a similar meaning, almost as though they are synonyms, but then the word meekness was also present in the definition.
- "meek" - "the positive moral quality of dealing with people in a kind manner, with humility and consideration".
I don't know about you but there are some people in life "sandpaper people" they just rub me the wrong way...but I've learned over the years that I too am someone's "sandpaper person" and that we both serve a purpose in God's plan, we are sanding each other's rough spots to smooth. But it's still hard at times isn't it? To always be humble and gentle, considerate of others. Always...in world that only looks out for self?
Yet Paul writes in verse 1, "Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God." The Lord calls us to walk in a way that is not pushy that is considerate to others.
Revelation 2:4-5 tells us that somewhere along the way the church of Ephesus looses it, they "don't love me (Jesus) or each other" as they first did. Jesus says to them "Turn back to Me..."
I pray for the Church now, I, like Paul, beg that we will all turn back to Jesus, to that first love, that on-fire excitement of knowing Jesus and that we will all lead a life worthy of His calling.
All Scriptures taken from The Daily Walk Bible, NLT, Tyndale
Greek word definitions from Zondervan Exhaustive Concordance
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