David

My brother David is such a “means of grace” (as we say at CLC). Tonight at dinner Laura was misbehaving, and I raised my voice quite a bit when I told her to stop.

A few hours later David came to me while I was washing dishes, and he’d been thinking about it. “Kevin,” he said soberly, “we should be kind and gentle, shouldn’t we?”

I agreed, not recalling the incident he was thinking of. “Yes, David, we should be kind,” I said. “The Bible talks about that in Ephesians 4.”

David went and got his King James Bible and found the verse. “’And be ye kind to one another,’” he read, “tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.’” I helped him through the difficult words.

“You see, Kevin,” he began, “you were not kind to Laura. You shouted at her, and that was not being kind to her, don’t you think? You were not being tenderhearted or forgiving when you shouted at her, were you?”

I had to agree that I wasn’t.

“I want to read to you Romans 5:8.” He took some time to find the verse. “’But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ You see, Kevin, God’s wrath is kindled against you for that sin. God’s wrath is kindled against you for shouting at Laura. That is anger, and it’s a sin that deserves His wrath. But Christ died for that sin. Christ died on the cross to forgive your sin. Now I’m going to read Galatians 2:20.

“’I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ So, Kevin, this means that we are crucified with Christ, and Christ lives in us. He has died on the cross for your sin, so you shouldn’t be angry! You should apologize to Laura for shouting at her, shouldn’t you?”

Yow! Way to hit me with the Gospel right between the eyes!

I thanked David for bringing that to my attention and promised to apologize to Laura. Then I went to my desk to look up a few of those verses again. David came to check on me and reiterated a few of the things he’d said before, reminding me that my sin was paid for through Christ’s sacrifice and that I was forgiven.

I don’t have anything to say, except… God’s grace is the reason why I have the best brother in the world.