Get The Whole Story

Posted by Rob Irvine on Jan 26, 2011 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

I love that we can so easily find information. I can find out who won the hockey game between Toronto and Edmonton in a few clicks. I can in a few clicks self-diagnosis my sick feelings (though that is dangerous). In a few clicks I can look up scriptures from many different translations to give me a more complete understanding and prospective.

The comparison in the verse for today gives us deeper understanding.

Be completely humble and gentle vs. and mark that you do this with humility and discipline-not in fits of starts.

The word completely is a little scary because I do not do many things completely that sounds too high and lofty and too insurmountable. To be completely humble seems a little out of reach. The phrase “mark that you do” is a little more attainable to me. Kind of like make sure you act this way instead of demanding perfection.

The next is the use of two different words. Which one is right? Which gives the better idea? Gentleness or discipline. For me I would search out these two words and see what the author is trying to get at. It also gives me another word to add to the way I should be. I should be humble, gentle and disciplined.

Then the word “patient” in one and “steady” in the other. I like both words. We are challenged to be steady and patient with people and what God has asked us to do. There is nothing like having a relationship with someone that is steady. It seems that a steady person is a patient person.

Bearing with one another in love vs. pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love. Bearing seems to be a chore, an effort, something you just need to grin and bear and do it. But the other translation softens the meaning. Pour yourself out. That sounds like something I would do from a willing spirit. The Message translation seems to give the spirit of the verse (acts of love) while the NIV seems to state the matter of fact of the issue.

I need both perspectives. I need the hard cold facts of how I should live but I need the facts to be softened by the Spirit of the text. This is why I read as many different translations as possible. To get the whole story.