I did it on purpose as a reminder to myself that sometimes I am too noisy. Sometimes, I am about as gentle as Brillo pad, with opinions that leak out in the form of biting words, strung along into pointed sentences, that scour.
Scouring has its place. Namely, on my dirty dishes. But not all over God's children (and we are all God's children).
Have you ever been not-so-gentle with your words? Have you ever Brillo-padded a baby's bottom with your opinions? (It's a metaphor... a ridiculous metaphor... but it illustrates how ridiculous we can be with our opinions and commentary...) If you can think of a time that you scoured someone with your words, or plowed over them like monster truck, reflect back on how effective/necessarily/purposeful it was. Likewise, has anyone ever scoured you with their words? Ran you over? How did you react? How did you feel? Was it effective? Did it accomplish anything, particularly for the Kingdom of God?
If gentleness is restrained strength, as we learned this past Sunday, how does that inform our prayer life? How should we pray now?
Restrained. Strength.
We need restraint in our opinions and strength from the Holy Spirit as we seek to respond like Jesus.
And how did Jesus respond?
In Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (NIV).
This was more than just a lofty suggestion from a starry-eyed idealist. This was the actual practice (and last words) of a man who was hung on cross, who chose to respond in prayer even while he was being hurt and even though he had done nothing wrong. In Luke 23:34: Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
We're gonna need a whole lotta restraint (a Holy Spirit driven control of our opinions and indictments/judgements) and a whole lotta strength (to pray for those who persecute us)... You see, things are about to get challenging in the prayer blog. It just might be Jesus' next step for you. For us. Over the next several weeks, we are going to be challenged to pray for our enemies. It matters.
Our scripture passage for this Sunday is Ephesians 1:1-2:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus,[a] the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Do you see how Paul's name is connected to Jesus' name? Do you see how the Ephesians are connected to Jesus' name? We, too, are connected to Jesus in an incredibly close manner, and when people associate us with him, it would do us well to respond like him. There's grace and peace to be had when we respond like Jesus.
How many people invoke the name of Jesus on social media, and follow it with scathing comments? Vile comments? Awful, mean, spiteful comments? What good does it actually do? Do situations change? Do those we disagree with suddenly do an "about face" and turn around and change? No. Do we suddenly feel better because we've weighed in? Are we suddenly at peace? No.
Perhaps the energy we waste passing judgment (not our job) would be better spent on our knees in fervent prayer for the situation, whatever it may be, and ALL those involved.
This is what Jesus did. This is what we should do.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
This. Could. Change. Everything.
Let's let it.
This week's challenge: Ask God to search your heart and weigh in on areas of life in which you need Jesus' gentleness. Ask God to begin to prepare your heart and mind to spend time in prayer for your "enemies." Commit to joining your fellow PoC'ers as we pray together each week and ask God to teach us to respond in gentleness and in bold prayer, rather than in bold, opinionated, and condemning commentary.
Dear Jesus,
Help prepare our hearts and minds to see areas of our lives in which we are not gentle, but judgmental. Please help "ready us" as we begin to pray more and "talk" less.
Amen.
PoC|Coverage is tonight at 6pm! Join us as we engage in prayer and care throughout the building.
Pastor Celia
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