This week’s devotion:
I was out of town all week involved in a church conciliation case. Along with a co-conciliator, we were assisting a church to work through misunderstandings, miscommunications, hurts and sins that resulted in the beginning of a church split. Thankfully, God used this time with the leaders and some of the families of this church to bring healing and reconciliation. In order for this to happen, there had to be some acknowledgement of sin and repentance from some. Each day, we started with a devotion to get everyone’s hearts and minds on the Lord. I want to share one of the devotions that I shared with some of the members of this church.
It comes from 2 Timothy 2:23-26 which says: Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their sense and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
The NIV in verse 24 says to not become resentful instead of patiently enduring evil. Over the years, that has been instructive to my heart, because I can tend toward becoming resentful when I am dealing with the same person or situation that is hurting me or that I am struggling with.
Admittedly, in the midst of a difficult or destructive relationship it is hard to be kind. Our emotions get heightened. Our flesh gets riled up. Again, in my own life, I have memorized these verses so that when I am in an argument or a conflict with someone or am having to endure the same sinful pattern over and over, I can bring these verses to my mind and pray for God’s grace for me to be kind and to not become resentful or bitter. I think that it is with this attitude of being kind and patient, that God actually gives us a platform to teach one another. Kindness and patience are the foundation for productive interactions with others in the midst of a difficult or destructive relationship. If I become bitter and am not kind, I will not have an opportunity to teach or instruct. In addition, if I am not gentle, then I might think I am correcting my opponent, but all I will be communicating is my bitterness and resentment and they won’t be able to hear any of my words. Just like Romans 2:4 says: It’s God’s kindness that is meant to lead us to repentance. If it is God’s kindness that leads to repentance, it is as His ambassadors that we can be used to help others, as we model that same kindness.
Finally, it is so important to remember that God is the one who grants repentance. I think we can be His instrument as we focus on being kind, gentle and not resentful, but He is the one who grants the repentance. This repentance is a result of God’s grace working in our hearts. Apart from God’s grace working in each of our hearts, we will be defensive and even blinded and distorted in our thinking of situations and other people. We will make assumptions. We will believe lies.
Ultimately, we must be patient with God and trust Him to do what only He can do. While we made much progress this past week in with this church conflict, one of the main people who needed to repent, didn’t. In my heart I wrestled with wanting to get in his face and plead for him to repent of his sin. I had to remember that I can’t make anyone repent. My job is to be kind, gentle, and patiently waiting on the Lord to work. I need to pray for this person. I need to remember that until he repents, he is caught in the trap.
