Another Bible verse I have trouble with.

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Eph 4:2) I cannot tell you how many times I have failed to do this.  However, I can probably tell you the number of times someone else has failed to do this with me.  I have a tendency to hold on to hurts caused by others.  You may say it’s natural, but the truth is that the core of Christianity is reconcilliation. Either I have to apologize or forgive.  The burden always rests on my shoulders.  That pisses me off.  I constantly feel like I have to follow the rules while everyone else does whatever they want. 

In reality, we act the way we do for any number of reasons (anger and fear immediately come to mind).  I don’t mean to be a jerk-it just happens.  The growth in me, is that I’ve begun to recognize my jerkhood, and in some cases, make amends.  A point I want to make here is that I am, as are all of us, a work in progress.  “The paint is still wet.”  If we did it perfectly, we wouldn’t need Jesus. 

At this moment in my life, the key word of this verse is love.  At the end of his life, John the Beloved’s sermons consisted of three sentences:  “God loves you.  I love you.  Love one another.”  I figure I have about 45 more years left (less, if you factor in my treadmill incident this week.)  Perhaps by the end of that time span, I will have some grasp of love.