Jul 15th, 2023:
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Eph 4:32
Paul writes the epistle to the Ephesians with a theme of achieving unity of believers. This 4th chapter gives us the essence of this book in the Bible. He’s asking the believers to ‘endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (v.3). In this context, he chooses to end the chapter with the words- kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness.
Kindness is such an important virtue. It is emphasized even in the world’s view to be such a noble trait. It has elements of love, mercy, grace, and goodness. We have opportunities to show kindness in every walk of life and every place that we’re in. Kindness may be one of the easiest Christian values that we can all practice daily. We cannot be kind when we are having a temper on a difficult day. But kindness all the time is a direct indicator of the joy of God living in us. We’re exhorted to be kind to one another.
Tenderheartedness always shows compassion. It is probably close to kindness but with a subtle difference of ‘sentimental feelings of the heart’. We’re called to have a tender heart because we think about any situation for longer than required. This can lead us to try to understand the root causes of problems and potentially what we can do to address them. We can display this feeling of tenderheartedness towards the needy, the destitute, the defenseless, and the weak. There are so many people like these even among the believers.
Finally, forgiveness, which is a basic Christian trait. A Christian should always forgive because we ourselves have been forgiven. The Lord Jesus instills that truth even in the Lord’s prayer. It is especially hard to forgive when we are wronged. We are still called to forgive. Forgiveness releases bitterness and anger from our hearts. It removes the need for revenge and malice towards another. In the church, forgiveness is one of the leading causes of unity. We need to remind ourselves that God has forgiven us and forgotten our sins for Christ’s sake and walk on that same road.