“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.”
be tenderhearted,
“Tenderhearted” comes from two words good and guts. This word literally means “good guts or inner bowels!” Obviously this is not the meaning here. The figurative and true meaning is good heartedness or good emotions.
The Greek world used “tenderhearted” for the seat of emotional life. “Good heartedness” moves us to meet the needs of others. God does not want us to relate to others with a hard heart. He wants us moved by the pain of others.
What are good emotions? Good emotions are emotions influenced by a mind that submits to the Word of God. When emotions influence our understanding of the Word then distortion of the Christian life will occur.
When emotions operate properly, they appreciate or respond to God’s viewpoint and the Christian way of life. Emotions are the response of the soul. If we are going to enjoy our emotions, we must orient to the biblical viewpoint of life. When emotions control truth, then we will distort life. The whole issue is which controls which. If emotions control the mind then we are in danger of instability. If the Word controls our minds, then God gives us orientation to life. One situation is stable, the other unstable.
Being tenderhearted means that a person lets God’s way of thinking orient his or her emotions. Biblically, the mind influences emotions, not the other way around. When emotions influence the mind the believer develops weakness in his or her soul.
Principle:
Tenderheartedness is an attitude full of grace toward God’s family.
Application:
Our emotions appreciate the best of life based on who God is. Therefore, we must channel our emotions through the Word. The only way we can understand the essence of God is by the Word of God.
Emotions are not criteria for the Christian life. How we feel does not determine truth. We are not Christians because we feel saved. We are not spiritual because we feel spiritual. Emotions are simply the vent of our attitudes. Our status before God depends on what God says, not how we feel.
Are you cold hearted? Are you callused to the pain of others? Do you have the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes? Can you put yourself in his or her place? Do you have an eye that can see the unseen? Some of us have lost our capacity for compassion. We are immune to the needs of others. Just as medical doctors become hardened to the pain of their patients, so Christians can become numb to the pain of their fellow Christians.
We can lose the ability to feel the pain in someone else’s heart. Because of the exposure of so much grief through the media, we blunt our minds to the needs of others. When we hear daily reports of tragedy and suffering, we simply lapse into sloppy sentimentalism that can only feel the heartache of others for a moment.
We live in a sophisticated society where everyone develops a rhinoceros hide. We do that because of the dog-eat-dog world we in which we live. That is the kind of hide we need for the office. We need that to survive. The law of the jungle prevails there. It is every man or woman for themselves and the devil takes the hindmost.
That kind of societal attitude pervades our thinking and we bring that to church. We are not as tenderhearted as we should be. We are hard-headed instead. Our heart does not beat in harmony with God’s heart. If our heart did, more of us would send get-well cards to the sick. Most of us do not have time for others. Why wait until someone lands in the hospital to send them a word of appreciation?
Tenderheartedness is at the very essence of who God is. His tender heart sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Only the overflowing love of God and the ability to identify with pain will give us a tender heart.
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