Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


7.11.2005  

Word

Ephesians 4:31, 32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

I had occasion to ponder these two verses yesterday. The tender-hearted, compassionate nature which is ours in Christ seems to elude me to a far greater degree than I'd care to admit. In thinking about how I'm going to minister to the other college students at our church, what comes to mind most urgently is the need to shepherd, care for, and genuinely love others. It'd be easy to want to fall back into Teacher Mode and simply lead a bible study or something of that nature, but what would that accomplish? Where would the shepherd's heart for the sheep be? Quite simply, genuine soul-care would not be there.

A little later in the day, I was thinking about bitterness. What is bitterness? What effect does it have upon the soul? What causes it, and what does it look like? I looked in my concordance, and found the verse in Ephesians 4 mentioned. When I turned there, I was surprised to see the same passage I'd already been meditating on. What struck me was not so much the admonition to put away bitterness, but the encouragement to be tender-hearted and forgiving. Why? It's that last phrase: "just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Whoa.

I still think about that message that Dr. Moore preached in Boyce Chapel this past Spring Semester. We, as those who are reconciled to God through the precious and atoning blood of Christ that was shed upon the cross, have absolutely no right to be bitter. This is quite silencing! If we choose to take vengeance upon ourselves, then we count Christ's sacrifice and God's eternal punishment in hell as insufficient retribution for any wrongdoing. This does not, however, discount the justice and consequences of earthly government. Rather, this bitterness that Paul speaks of is that which is in the heart, that which overlooks God's role as the righteous Judge who patiently grants grace to all for a time here on earth, and is ultimately offensive toward His glory.

Ok, fine. So I can't hold a grudge. Why be tender-hearted?

As much as my flesh would like to ignore it, I, too, deserve the wrath of God poured out on me for eternity. Yet, that wrath was poured out on Christ! That's the point that Paul is making: we have no right to point a finger and cry out indignantly when we perceive injustice done against us, precisely because we have done a far greater injustice toward God, and He has already forgiven us in Christ. Such a truth should drive us not to be blinded by bitterness, but rather, to see clearly through the lens of forgiveness. Bitterness blinds us to the grace of God in Christ, and the fires of bitterness that often rise up as a result of sin will only lead to further sin if they are not quenched by the waters of forgiveness. Therefore, we forgive lovingly and humbly, not with haughty hearts that are giving infinite graces, but with hearts that have themselves been forgiven for transgressions too heinous for our consciences to bear fully. This, then, is the tender-heartedness that overcomes the dark roots of bitterness that gnaw upon our souls: forgiveness for Christ's sake.

posted by Bolo | 3:03 PM
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