11-17-20

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
November 17, 2020
Scripture: Ephesians 4:31-32
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Thought for the Day: Can we improve on kindness? It is an important question, because if we answer, “No,” then we are most certainly not going to improve. Paul seems to suggest it is a choice we have, a conscious and deliberate choice to put away one thing in order to choose another. Paul wrote, “Put away from you…” This language describes raising up or elevating something. Could it be that Paul was encouraging his readers to put things like bitterness, anger and slander on the top shelf where they would be out of reach? If kindness is a choice, then limiting our alternatives will always increase the probability of choosing kindness. Meditation can be a helpful tool, using our imagination to prayerfully picture certain emotions and attitudes being pulled from us and placed out of reach. I have a friend who tried every evening to reflect on the day, and any reaction or interaction he had that did not represent his values, he would imagine locking them inside a box that he would bury. Some might think it sounds silly, yet nothing comes into reality that wasn’t first imagined. Our imagination is a gift and is often the first step toward becoming more fully the person God believes we can be. We can improve when it comes to kindness, and the world needs us to improve.

Prayer: I ask for your help, Loving God, when it comes to being kind. I ask for your help, but I know a lot of the responsibility lies with me. Teach me the importance of intentional preparation, doing the hard work in advance so that I have a better chance of choosing kindness when the stakes are high. Amen.

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