TOWARDS THE PERFECT MAN(JAS.1:4)


GOD'S MANDATE OF STRIVING FOR PEACE WITH ANYONE AND EVERYONE...(PART TWO)

Welcome back, precious brethren.

We were given some steps(pt.one), to follow,if we must find ourselves on the path of holiness.

Now,we continue by studying some PRACTICAL WAYS to make our quest for holiness a reality;

DEVELOP AND PRACTICE COMPASSION, IF YOU HAVEN'T.

One of the most ENDURING LEGACY of our Lord and Saviour,Christ Jesus,while on earth,is COMPASSION.

Compassion is that inward, deeply felt emotional response of pity for a suffering person, coupled with a desire to alleviate that suffering.

Three ingredients of Compassion;
(1) sees the suffering person, (2) feels tender pity in response to the suffering, and
(3) acts to alleviate that suffering when possible.

That sense of tender pity must be distinguished from any self-righteous, condescending, air of superiority that looks down on the sufferer but remains aloof(PRIDE),and unengaged.

I came across this befitting quote for it,*THE CHRISTIAN, THEN, IS TO BE A MAN OF PITY, A MAN WHO CANNOT SEE SUFFERING OR NEED OR DISTRESS WITHOUT A SWORD OF GRIEF AND PITY PIERCING HIS OWN HEART. THERE CAN BE NO MORE COMPLETE OPPOSITES OTHAN CALLOUSNESS AND CHRISTIANITY.*

Godly compassion feels the needs of others and seeks to help.(2 Cor. 1:3–4).

3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2Co 1: 3-4)

KINDNESS

Kindness means showing mercy and doing good even to people who do not deserve it or who deserve the opposite.
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, (Tit 3: 4)

Christ Jesus equally desires us to show kindness even toward the ungrateful and rebellious:
*But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful*(Luke 6:35–36).
We do need grace,lots of it....

It is one thing to give ₦300 to a stranger who deserves nothing from you; it’s another thing to give ₦300 to someone who has spit in your face or attacked you and who deserves the opposite of kindness.
Too often our hearts reflect the opposite,eg;

*That’s the last time I will do him a favour*
*Enough is enough. This relationship/friendship is over.

*After all I’ve done, this is the thanks I get!*

Thankfully, this is not the way God treats us, and it is not the way we have to treat others. How is it possible for you and me to show kindness in these situations? The answer is simple but profound: kindness does not depend on the other person’s character; it depends on us. God does not call us to show kindness to the other person because the other person deserves it, but because God deserves it and because He wants His sons and daughters to be like Him.

HUMILITY

Humility means recognizing that all you have comes from God and that you are absolutely dependent on HIM as both your CREATOR and your REDEEMER. Humility was no more valued in Paul’s day than it is in our day.

Both worlds were, and are, populated by prideful people. People swaggered and strutted, like they do today. They admired dominance, self-assertion, and one-upmanship.

Humility in Paul’s Roman culture was an abject, servile quality, yet Paul exalts it as a strength in Colossians 3:12, as does the rest of our Bible.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (Col 3: 12)

This is the one I esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2)

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5; also James 4:6)

What does that look like in our horizontal relationships? Biblical humility involves an utter trust in God that allows others to be honored above me.
Humility means preferring others over me;
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves*(Phil. 2:3).
It means taking the last seat as a guest at someone’s dinner table Since God is in complete control, I don’t have to be first. I can lower myself, let others have the top spot, and know HE will provide for me in HIS way, in HIS time.

GENTLENESS

Popular understandings of gentleness sometimes confuse it with weakness or femininity. This is a mistake. The apostle Paul was not a weak man. Yet he describes himself to the Thessalonians as *gentle among you*(1 Thess. 2:7; cf. 2 Cor. 10:1). Christ Jesus was not a weak MAN. Yet HE said of HIMSELF, *I am gentle and humble in heart*(Matt. 11:28–29).

Someone has observed that this is the only place in the Gospel records where Christ Jesus describes HIS inner character.
As I regularly remind men, if our definition of manhood does not feature humility and gentleness as central, then it is unChristian. That lesson doubles for men who are Christian leaders. At HIS core, the GREATEST LEADER who walked this earth was GENTLE and HUMBLE.

PATIENCE

Colossians 3:12 extols *patience*,as being long-suffering, long-fused, and long-tempered toward those who irritate us. It is the ability to bear with people, not to grow angry or bitter or irritated or annoyed with them, even when they are foolish or ungrateful or even apparently hopeless. . . . It is the ability serenely to take people as they are, with all their faults and all their failings, and with all the ways in which they hurt and wound us, and never stop caring for them and bearing with them.

Others are Self restraint, Forbearance , Christ-like forgiveness and Love...On face value,they seemingly have the same meaning...BUT EACH IS DISTINCT ON ITS OWN.

For instance, let's see how apostle Paul uses *LOVE* to conclusively summarised all the attributes we discussed above;

Colossians 3:14;
*And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.*

KJV13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Col 3: 13-14)
The apostle prioritizes LOVE,above all else, for with it,the others would naturally fall into place.

SO YOU SEE, TO FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN IS
—our SELF-SACRIFICIAL GIVING for the OTHER PERSON'S BEST— as the most important virtue, THE SUPREME RELATIONAL GRACE.

Let's wrap this up this way

God’s forgiveness of us is HIS DECISION, DECLARATION, and PROMISE to NOT HOLD OUR SINS AGAINST US BUT TO GRACIOUSLY HOLD THEM AGAINST CHRIST JESUS as OUR SUBSTITUTE.

In fact, God’s forgiveness emerges as a major theme here in Colossians.

In chapter 1 Paul recalls, *For [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins* (Col. 1:13–14).

FOR GOD TO ASK US TO DO SAME TO OTHERS, ISN'T ASKING FOR TOO MUCH.

THANK YOU FATHER ,FOR YOUR UNFATHOMABLE LOVE,AMEN!