Eating out a few nights ago I noticed a couple next to my wife and I. Apparently their food was displeasing them and the complaints were coming out and toward the young man who was waiting on them. The man spoke of how his steak was not “tender”. How he spoke was not in a tender manner, but more in a tender-less way. The young man made it right by bringing the man another steak and kept coming back to make sure this steak was tender.
I felt sorry for both the man and waiter. My sorrow spilled over into my mind to the times I too have been filled with “tender-less” words and actions when expectations were not met to my satisfaction. I sat where the dissatisfied man was sitting. I wanted to judge him, but knew I would have to let the judgment begin with me.
How quick are we to be tender to a lost world? Are we quicker to be tender-less? It ought to be that the more we know Jesus through the Word and hang around with Him in devotion and prayer we become increasing more tender to the tender-less. Brennan Manning in his book, “The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus” says …
“The relentless tenderness of Jesus challenges us to give up our false faces, our petty conceits, our irritating vanities, our preposterous pretending, and become card-carrying members of the messy human community. Jesus calls us to be tender with each other because He is tender.”
Those words … “because He is tender” … are both the call and the reason that I am to be tender, like my Lord Jesus.
Philippians 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Peace & Glorify!
Filed under: Devo
PBob, I can easily relate to this simple lesson. A man’s heart can be as tough as that steak or as soft as butter. Sometimes just a tender word is all it takes to change a person’s day. Often our own attitudes affect the way others deal with us, either with gentleness or venom.
“An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up”. (Proverbs 12:25)