What does it mean to be easily entreated? It means to be kind and just and
reasonable and self-sacrificing in one’s attitude toward others. The man
who possesses this quality habitually manifests this temper in his life.
There are those who are very tenacious of their rights. They feel that
people do not respect those rights as they should; so when any question
involving them arises, they feel as though they must “stand up for their
rights.” They often lose sight of everything else; kindness, mercy,
forbearance, patience, Christlikeness—in fact, nothing counts but their
rights. Their rights they will defend; and very often their rights prove
to be wrongs, or in insisting on their rights they do that which wrongs
others. Really spiritual people are not so particular and insistent
concerning their rights. They would far rather sacrifice their rights than
to contend for them, unless something vital is involved, which is rarely
the case. When a spiritual man is compelled to defend his rights, he will
do it in a meek and quiet way, a way that has in it nothing offensive or
self-assertive. When they were about to scourge Paul unlawfully, his only
assertion of his rights was to quietly ask, “Is it lawful for you to
scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?” (Acts 22: 25). But there
are those who will not yield in the least; they know their rights, and
they will not yield to anyone! Very often their rights would look quite
different if such persons possessed more of the spirit of Christ.
Things sometimes look very different to different people, and no amount of
talking and arguing will make them see alike; and the more of such there
is, the further apart people drift. That is the reason so many church
troubles are always _being_ settled but are never _really_ settled. The
trouble is in the hearts. The members are not willing to be entreated. Let
them get their hearts warm toward each other, and be filled with the
spirit of brotherly kindness. Until such is the condition, one might as
well try to weld two pieces of cold iron. As before stated, when people
desire unity and harmony they can have it. But they must desire it enough
to be willing to sacrifice for it all those things that prevent it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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