Always be humble, gentle, and patient.
—Ephesians 4:2
Do you remember the tale about the guy who came to work out of sorts? His secretary asked, “Did you wake up grouchy this morning?” He said, “No, I let her sleep.”
Consider these two lists:
Cranky Pleasant
Critical Gentle
Cruel Kind
Unpleasant Patient
Which list comes closest to matching your profile? If family members were to pick the one that best describes you, which would it be? Your co-workers? The people where you shop?
Paul counsels us to “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12). We’ll either dress in those glad rags or slip into the grungy duds of the opposite: hostility rather than compassion, meanness rather than kindness, arrogance rather than humility, harshness rather than gentleness, agitation rather than patience.
“Me first” eliminates all others . . . and God.