The missing word to start the sentence of today’s verse is “walk.” Paul is telling the believers in the church he planted in Ephesus to “walk with all humility and gentleness….” Not just some humility, all humility. Not just a little gentleness, all gentleness. If this were a recipe, I would dump in the whole bag of humility. And the entire box of gentleness. Then I need to mix these together for a long time with a spoon called patience. And bake it in an oven called love. What comes out of the oven when I’m done? Unity. Paul has given us the recipe for unity among Christ’s followers, which is a very diverse group. Christians disagree on all sorts of things. We have different lifestyles and interests and backgrounds and skin colors and languages and ideals and political philosophies. But we share one God. One Savior. We are all one in Him. He is everything in this church, and I am nothing without Him. My preferences don’t count. My comfort is irrelevant. My fear is an insult. As part of Jesus’s church, He is what connects me to the others in the church. That’s why I need that entire bag of humility. It’s hard to put aside my ideas of right and wrong in favor of Jesus’s ideas of right and wrong. In fact, I am too blind to even recognize that these are different if I haven’t added enough (all) humility to my recipe. If I finally do see things God’s way instead of my way (because I used the whole bag), that’s when I need to add in gentleness. Only with the whole box of gentleness can I help other people in Jesus’s church to start mixing their own recipe of unity. Not by telling them they are wrong but by showing them what’s right. With a super-sized Costco box of gentleness. Then the patience comes in to play. I can’t expect immediate results. Mixing all this together takes time and the right tool: patience. Finally, if I bake all this with love, unity is possible. Without love, unity will never work. A church becomes just a bunch of people trying to be pleasant but accomplishing nothing of lasting value. With unity, whose humility and gentleness are mixed with patience and baked in love, God’s church can accomplish anything!
Dear God,
I want to be part of your vibrant, unified, effective, joyful, miraculous church. Remind me that I can always add more humility and gentleness. And show me where I’m lacking these things most. Forgive me for my pride disguised as righteousness and for my utter lack of gentleness. Thank you for you patience with me, for your love and forgiveness.
CamDevo 