The Lord’s servant must not quarrel;
instead he must be kind to everyone.
—2 Timothy 2:24
At a White House banquet, a guest’s conversation with the woman seated next to him went like this—
“Did I get your name right? Is it Post?”
“Yes it is.”
“Emily Post?”
“Yes.”
“The world-renowned authority on manners?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re eating my salad.”
Most of us eat from the wrong plate now and then.
When people don’t see things the way we do, we may write them off as ignorant, stubborn, or willfully blind, and lash out.
Wrong plate!
Titus 3:2 counsels us “to speak no evil about anyone, to live in peace, and to be gentle and polite to all people.”
Peter tells us to state our case with “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15).
“Love is patient and kind … it is not arrogant or rude” (1 Cor. 13:4).
To belittle is to be little.