Life
is too short; Love is
too sacred
(J.R.
Miller, "About
Temper", 1912) LISTEN to audio! Download audio
(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)
"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or
boastful or proud or
rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and
it
keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad
about
injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never
gives
up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through
every
circumstance." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
The ideal Christian life, is
one
of unbroken kindliness. It is dominated by love--the love
whose
portrait is drawn for us in the immortal thirteenth chapter of
First
Corinthians. We have but to turn to the gospel pages, to find the
story
of a Life in which all this was realized. Jesus never
lost his
temper. He lived among people who tried Him at every point--some
by
their dullness, others by their bitter enmity and persecution, but
He
never failed in sweetness of disposition, in long-suffering
patience,
in self-denying love. Like the flowers which give out
their
perfume only when crushed, like the odoriferous wood which
bathes with fragrance the ax which hews it--the life of Christ
yielded
only the tenderer, sweeter love to the rough impact of men's
rudeness
and wrong. That is the pattern on which we should strive to
fashion our
life and our character. Every outbreak of violent temper, every
shade
of ugliness in disposition, mars the radiant loveliness of the
picture
we are seeking to have fashioned in our lives.
The perfect beauty of Christ, should ever be envisioned in our
hearts, as
that which we would attain for ourselves. The honor of our
Master's
name, should impel us to strive ever toward Christlikeness in
spirit
and in disposition.
We represent Christ in this world; people cannot see Him,
and
they must look at us to see a little of what He is like.
Whatever great work we may do for Christ, if we fail to live out
His
life of patience and kindness, we fail in an essential part of our
duty as Christians. "The servant of the Lord must be gentle."
Only
as our own lives shine in the brightness of holy affectionateness,
and our hearts and lips distill the sweetness of patience and
gentleness, can we fulfill our mission in this world as Christ's
true
messengers to men.
Life is too short to spend
even
one day of it in bickering and strife. Love
is
too sacred to be forever
lacerated and torn by the ugly briers of sharp temper. Surely we
ought
to learn to be patient with others, since God has to show every
day
such infinite patience toward us. Can we not, then, train our life
to
sweeter gentleness? Can we not learn to be touched even a little
roughly, without resenting it? Can we not bear little injuries and
apparent injustices, without flying into an unseemly rage? Can we
not
have in us something of the mind of Christ which will enable us,
like
Him--to endure all wrong and injury and give back no word or look
of
bitterness?
There is no temper so obdurately bad--that it cannot be trained
into
sweetness. The grace of God can take the most unlovely life--and
transform it into the image of Christ!
~ ~ ~ ~
When you FORWARD these gems to
others who may be encouraged or profited by them, please
delete your unsubscribe link--the last line at
the bottom of the page.