In the current hectic environment, staying focused and on point is job ONE. Distraction is exactly that: dis -- traction; a loss of traction. Today, with so many areas calling for our attention and time, the ability to keep focused, and single-minded calls for an almost herculean effort.
In the Tuesday morning, NYSE Bible study, Vaughn mentioned spiritual unity, as referenced in Ephesians 4:2.
Eph 4:1-2 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
After the meeting, I took the time to give it a little more consideration. The verse mentions "the calling' and our response to it. According to this passage, the call requires that we comport ourselves with four qualities: humility, gentleness, patience and love.
It appears that when these four qualities are in operation, we are able to maintain or "preserve the unity of the spirit."
One way to understand these four qualities is to compare them to the antonym of the word.
For humility, the antonym would be pride. Pride is that emotional and intellectual force which intentionally pushes the other person back.
Gentleness' antonym is judgment; which takes place whenever the the blame game is played for the purpose of gaining an advantage.
Patience's antonym is reaction. Whenever we are reactive, we are paving the road toward rejection.
Love's antonym is hatred, which covenants to see the extinction of another.
The first three qualities center around what we need not to do, or to control. The fourth one is something that we must do, and it usually involves the first three.
These four qualities also represent for me the offensive line, to employ a football metaphor. The job of the offensive line is to protect the quarterback, who in this case is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the one who calls the plays from out of the pocket, not the linemen. The 'pocket' from which the quarterback throws the ball is the heart of a man. If any of these linemen or character qualities fails to block its antonym or opponent, the quarterback gets sacked. When the quarterback gets sacked, we lose yardage, we waste the opportunity to move the ball forward, and what is worse, we risk losing the football.
As long as the quarterback is protected we stand the chance of scoring one for the Kingdom of God.
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