By: Jody Apple “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (KJV). This magnificent verse contains within it three vital principles that we need to apply to our lives every day. When we begin to use them in our daily affairs, we will be that much closer to living a Christ-like life. First, we must prepare our hearts to seek the law of the Lord. It is easy to realize that in order to be a doctor or a lawyer a person needs to go through extensive preparation. Years of study and dedication must pass in order to reach the goal. Why, then, do we as Christians so often fail to prepare spiritually for the Lord’s service? Is it because we do not believe it to be important enough? Surely, if we are willing to spend thirty years to buy a house, four or five years to buy a car and several months or even a few years to buy furniture for our homes, we would be willing to spend time in preparation of heart and mind to learn the Word of the Lord. We all have Bibles to study. Within them we have the law of the Lord. Let us all begin to seek it more diligently. Second, we must begin to do the things that God wants us to do. It is not enough to know when something needs to be

Concern for souls, in and out of the kingdom, should never generate rudeness or ungodly attitudes or bad behavior. You can be firm without being mean; you can be sound without being caustic. Balance. This kind of balance is not an accident. It is not a decision to be a “middle-of-the-roader” or a weak, wimpy Christian. It is instead a conscious decision to be the kind of Christian that God wants us to be. Perhaps the best way to understand this concept is to examine the biblical terms “epieikes” (adj., seeming, suitable; equitable, fair, mild, gentle) and “epieikeia” (noun, mildness, gentleness, fairness). You are probably familiar with the KJV rendering in Philippians 4:5 of “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” The term rendered “moderation’’ in this passage is “epieikes.” It is elsewhere translated as “patient” (1 Timothy 3:3 KJV) and gentle (Titus 3:2; James 3:17; 1 Peter 2:18 KJV). It also appears as “forbearance” (ASV), “forbearing” (NASB), “gentleness” (NKJV, NIV) and “reasonableness” (ESV). Its use in some contexts might cause us to think of weakness or timidity, but further study reveals something very different. In 2 Corinthians 10:1, the term refers to “the meekness of Christ as a model for Paul and the community” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol 2, 599). Christ in this context “is gentle as only one who has full power can be” (Ibid.). This must characterize our own attitude and character as well: gentleness and forbearance as a