Sometimes I don't blog because it seems that nothing significant or coherent is happening in my brain. Other times, there are so many threads of things going on that it's hard to know which one to pick. This morning, there is one that stands out.
Since vacation I have been diligently reviewing my old verse cards and that is always a wonderful time to reflect on things memorized in the past. The earliest ones I learned go back to 1972 - gracious! Nearly 40 years of time to have mastered not only the words but the truths they carry. That's a sobering thought. It is interesting to observe how life has illuminated many of those truths for me and how things I am learning today build on the same truths. There is a lot of mental cross-referencing going on these days, old verses and new verses shedding light from different angles on a gem of truth.
Here's one from yesterday: Titus 2:5 Older women are to teach the younger women a number of important things but the one that jumped out at me from the list was the injunction to teach them to be kind. I wondered about that a bit, why kindness was especially singled out. Perhaps because young wives and mothers daily face situations that could easily lead to impatience and irritation. And then there are those hormones that make it harder. That reminded me of Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other..." And also Proverbs 31:26, "She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." Another translation says the "law of kindness". I reflected on the impact of a home where kindness was the law. No wonder Paul mentioned it specifically.
Jesus was unfailingly kind. Yes, He was stern at times but it was always with the desire for the repentance of the transgressor. That thought led me to Romans 2:4, "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" If God is achieving His ends (repentance) by being richly kind, tolerant and patient, why do I sometimes think that the anger of man would accomplish it better?
Amy Carmichael, in her priceless devotional book Edges of His Ways, writes about the three filters for our speech. They are, "Is it true? Is it KIND? Is it necessary?" If everything that came out of our mouths passed through those filters first, what a lovely world this would be! But, even if it gets through the first two filters of being true and being kind, how do I know if it's necessary? This question brought me back to Ephesians 4 again, verse 29: Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." There's the test: it is necessary if it is a)good for edification according to the need of the moment and b) it gives grace to those who hear!
That gives me plenty to chew on and think about today...kind, good for edification, gracious. And plenty to praise God for - HIS riches of kindness, patience, tolerance, and grace toward me. How can I not pass that on to others?
