Welcome to Day 12 of the “Manna for the Mind 2.0” devotional! This series is about finding nourishment in the Word of God to get us through the day. In each devotional, I take a variety of scripture passages (typically 1-3 verses each) and build our understanding of what they teach via their context and connecting scripture. My goal is to help you understand how to be the type of human God created you to be. Today’s passage is Ephesians 4:2.

Ephesians 4:2

NASB	NLT	VOICE
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,	2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.	2 Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love.

Three words are important to understand in the original Greek context: humble, gentle, and patient.

• Humble – Greek noun – tapeinophrosune (tah-pay-no-fro-soo-nay)
  • It’s the quality of having a humble opinion of yourself, a deep sense of one’s moral littleness, and a modest view of one’s importance.
  • It describes the attitude believers should have others God and others, emphasizing the importance of selflessness and servitude.
• Gentle – Greek noun – prautés (prah-oo’-tace)
  • It’s the quality of having a gentle strength, shown through humility and calmness.
  • It’s keeping your power under control, reflecting a spirit of submission to God and consideration for others.
• Patient – Greek noun – makrothumia (mak-roth-oo-mee’-ah)
  • It’s the quality of being patient and enduring in the face of provocation or difficulty.
  • It’s emphasizing self-restraint that doesn’t hastily retaliate or punish, especially when faced with offenses or challenges.

Humble is keeping a modest opinion of yourself, while focusing on selflessness and service. Gentle is using your strength through a calm and submissive neighbor to God. Patience is using your self-restraint not to lash out, but to still be calm during chaos.

None of us are perfect. Even us self-proclaimed perfectionists are not perfect. The only perfect human to bless the earth was Jesus. With that in mind, we need to accept and love those around us who aren’t perfect and who will mess up. When we see their faults, we must respond with patience and gentleness. We should condemn, yell, bully, or manipulate them because of their weaknesses or faults, but we should instead pray for them and over them. We should listen to their struggles and not judge them for it. We should see if we can help them in any way, even if it was just listening to the conversation. That’s our starting point as Christians. Anymore, we still see Christians who are not accepting of loving of those who may be a different ethnicity, social status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Even if you don’t agree with their lifestyle, you will not them as a lesser human. We are all humans and all God’s creation. Our goal is to understand, love, and serve. Once we understand their perspective, we must go one step further. We could invite them to dinner or out to coffee or go to a movie. We are to build a relationship with them and build a community together to do God’s will.

Colossians 3:12-13

NASB	NLT	VOICE
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,	12 Since God chose you to be holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.	12 Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.	13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.	13 Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon my offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should in kind.

Forgiving each other starts by remembering how much God has forgiven us. God forgives and forgets all things that we bring to up that have missed mark of what it means to reflect him in the world. The evil spirits of the world force us to dwell on it and marinate in the guilt and the shame that comes with it all. God has an infinite love and forgiveness that can help you love and forgive others. God doesn’t hold grudges. God doesn’t seek revenge. God isn’t passive aggressive. God allows you to forgive someone who missed the mark of treating you as God’s creation and forget the hurt and transgression that was caused. Let God deal with the divine justice that comes with it all, and trust that God will manage. Anymore, I trust that God’s justice will prevail in the moments when I feel hurt, betrayed, or wrongly treated. I have to restrain myself into how I react through my actions or words but allow myself to remember to treat the person that hurt me with respect and kindness just as God would treat me.

Next meal: Manna for the Mind #169