Years ago I came across the word tenderhearted in the last verse of the 4th chapter of Ephesians. I was learning then what it meant to be a Christian. It was a time when I desired to grow in the Lord with all my heart.
The Book of Ephesians is filled with the apostle Paul's instructions on living as children of light, but the very last verse is the one that endeared me to that calling. Since that first reading, in every situation of my life, these words have come back to me for both encouragement and reproof.
The verse reads:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.I find beauty and humility in the word "tenderhearted." It speaks of a certain innocence and childlikeness. It makes me think of a tender shoot delicately rooted, fluttering in the breeze, green and sweet-smelling.
Throughout the gospels, we find Jesus advising us to remain humble before God and man, to be childlike in our relationship with the Father. Children do not complicate their own lives. Their simplicity allows them to forgive and forget and to move on. Children are trusting. They simply rely on their parents to provide for them and to take care of them and to come to their rescue when needed. We need to be like children in trusting God.
Through the work of the cross, we have been forgiven by God and given the promise of eternal life. Can we risk being unforgiving toward anyone?
God forgave us, not because we deserved it, not because we paid for our salvation with our good works, but because His Son Jesus died for us, redeeming us with His own blood.
I hope I will never forget the supreme kindness of God toward me that while I was yet a sinner, Jesus loved me and gave his life for me.
So, I cannot cease to come back to this verse:
Be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)
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