Lesson 13: Fenders Have a Purpose
If you visit a marina you will often see cylindrical rubber devices hanging from the sides of boats. These are not decorations (they are too tacky looking for that). These rubber cylinders are called fenders or bumpers, depending on which part of the world you live. Their purpose is to protect the side of the boat from damage that might be caused by rubbing against the dock or another boat. Fenders don’t protect from serious collisions but from day to day interaction with the environment of a marina.
In our Christian life we have to live and interact with other people. Some of them are Christian, others are not. Most of the time these people will not cause us wilful damage. However the accumulative effect of day to day interaction with others who might rub us the wrong way can sometimes get us down. To cushion the negative effect caused by the hurtful actions and words of others we need to have spiritual fenders. We need to be able to lessen the impact with our own soft words, kind actions, and quiet demeanour. In this way we avoid hurt feelings and damaged relationships.
Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
No comments:
Post a Comment