"Christians must not be sharp and bitter, but gentle, mild, courteous and fair spoken, and such as make others to delight in their company. They can wink at other men's faults, and will be well contented to yield and give place to others, contented to bear with those who are froward and intractable, as someone said: "Thou must know the manners of thy friend, but thou must not hate them." Such a one was our Savior Christ. It is said of Peter that he wept often as he remembered the sweet mildness of Christ. It is an excellent virtue and most necessary in every kind of life." -Luther
God takes our nastiness, and replaces it with His gentleness. It's a process, but if it's not happening in your heart, then you may not be Christ's. And if it is happening, then God gets all the credit; all the glory. Amen.
8 comments:
Wow! Brother that quote is amazing. It actually shocked me at first to see it as attributed to Luther who could be...shall we say...straightforward. But he was truly a changed man when the Lord saved him!
I've catalogued this quote in my files to use it when we come to the character transformations sections in Romans 12. Thanks.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting good old brother Martin.
Yes. A spirit led Christian will become more and more gentle and true Christians are spirit led Rom. 8:14.........
Rom. 8:14, Amen Jazzy.
From glory to glory. Amen.
nice blog
"...make others to delight in their company."
Beautiful quote - thanks for sharing. Luther says it way better than I did when speaking on this topic at church. The believer and by extension the church at-large should be beautiful to the world...unfortunately we know that for the most part this is not the case. The church is more of hideous old hag at the moment.
I love the U2 song "Grace" which idealizes grace as a beautiful woman:
"Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace makes beauty out of ugly things"
Go in grace and be a delight to those you meet. Amen?
When the Church comes to understand grace for what it is, then she will lose her ugliness and shine for her God and King, and her Redeemer and Friend.
Thanks Miguel for the good thoughts. Love the words to that song.
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