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and as it is in the character and personality of
the Lord Jesus, who should likewise be our
daily meditation. It is “the root of the trees”
which will be judged (Lk. 3:9; Mk. 11:20); it is
who we are and what we have deep within us
which is so crucial, and which withstands
every wind. There is a colossal emptiness
within the hearts of so many, an emptiness
willingly filled with the meaningless words of
popular music, entertainment and a life
focused upon the cosmetic rather than the
essential. We have so much more to fill our
minds with - let us do so. Carry a pocket Bible
with you, or have the Bible on your phone. Dip
into it in the course of the day. “Gird up the
loins of your mind”, Peter says - gather
together our thoughts instead of letting them
flow and drift everywhere, thus hampering our
movement. Focus them upon the Lord Jesus.
Have Him as Lord and Master of your heart. Be
spiritually minded. And as we inevitably
reflect that all this is so much easier read than
done - pray that the rock of Israel and the
smitten rock of His Son, shall fill our minds
with their spirit, so that really it shall be
possible for us.
Sensitivity
Recognizing that we are all so frail should
make us more sensitive. We live in a world
which is becoming desensitized and almost
dehumanized. From the hard looks of chic
young women to the indifference of an old
man dropping a candy wrapper on the street,
this world is hard and getting harder. We who
have the spirit of Jesus, the mind of Christ,
are not to live as the world, who sin because
they are “past feeling”, a-pathetic, without
pathos, without sensitivity (Eph. 4:19), with a
blind mind (another figure for insensitivity),
with a vain heart, and who have therefore
given themselves over to the life of selfish
greediness and petty materialism. The lack of
true emotion, pathos and passion in our post-
modern world is all a reflection of this chronic
insensitivity. Paul’s comment is that “you have
not so learned Christ” (Eph. 4:20). To have His
mind, His spirit, is to be sensitive both to God
and man; and to thereby live with feeling and
passion. Like Paul we will rejoice with those
Editorial | Frailty and Fickleness
who rejoice, and feel so connected with our
brethren that if one of them stumbles, we
as it were ourselves feel the fire of their
future condemnation spreading over us right
now (2 Cor. 11:29).
Our inspiration to live soft in this hard world
comes from the spirit, the way of being, the
pattern, the essence, of the Father and His
Son. The way the Lord healed people reflects
His sensitivity - He commanded food to be
brought for a girl who had been dead and was
therefore hungry (Lk. 8:55). On an even higher
level, He is given the title “The Spirit”
because His spirit / mind is at one with both
God and us; hence, Romans 8 explains, He is
such a matchless mediator. He is simply so
sensitive to our thinking as well as God’s.
The Sensitive Lord
The sensitivity of both God and the Bible
writers is indicated by the way in which the
inspired writers often sense the likely
response to what they have just written, and
engage with that response ahead of time. Thus
after having written of the resurrection, Paul
foresees the response, and goes on: “But
someone will say, How are the dead raised
up?” (1 Cor. 15:35). Your homework can be to
look for other examples of this kind of thing,
especially in Romans. What we are to learn in
practice is that we should anticipate the likely
response of others to our words, actions and
positions - rather than bluntly present “truth”
(as we perceive it) without any care for their
response to it. For we aren’t simply
‘witnessing truth’ to people in an in-your-face
manner; but seeking to win them for Christ, to
walk at one with them in the same steps and
same spirit.
The way the Lord speaks with Peter in Jn.
21:15-17 is an essay in His sensitivity and
having thought about how Peter would be
feeling, the assurances he would need, the
questions he was likely asking himself, the
challenge he would be facing, the encourage-
ment he would need on the path to salva-
tion. We need to engage with others in this
same way. Jesus had already met Peter twice