is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.
Therefore the Master remains
serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter his heart.
Because he has given up helping
he is people's greatest help.
True words seem paradoxical." -Tao te Ching
I counted sixty-one verses with water in the Bible. An unofficial count. I read somewhere there are 722 references to water. Thinking about the history of Christianity, the religion conquered Rome without an army. Early Christianity moved like water, and wore the rigid Roman State down.
"This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions that Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, and Napoleon; without science and learning. He shed more light on matters human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since and produced effects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times." (Schaff)
So how do we Christians live the life of this spirit, wear down evil, wear down the rigidity of the State that is moving in a secular direction, wear down Christians that have become rigid in their dogma and doctrine? How do we bring people to accept Christ's truth without a bunch of in your face, scripture quoting, judgementalism and all the other things non-believers see as negatives in us? Truly, some Christians turn me off with this stuff! The answer of course is to walk the talk. Jesus is the model, the perfect blend of all we must be. More from Schaff: "His zeal never degenerated into passion, nor His constancy into obstinacy, nor His benevolence into weakness, nor His tenderness into sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from indifference and unsociability or undue familiarity; His self-denial from moroseness; His temperance from austerity. He combined childlike innocency with manly strength, absorbing devotion to God with untiring interest in the welfare of man, tender love to the sinner with uncompromising severity against sin, commanding dignity with winning humility, fearless courage with wise caution, unyielding firmness with sweet gentleness!"
He is the serene Master, his gentleness overcomes the rigid, evil cannot enter his heart, and he is people's greatest help. That's how we live, that's how we should do it.
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