Tenderhearted..He Ain't Heavy.. He's My Brother..

Just questioning myself about yesterday’s blog, I wondered what the real word for “tenderhearted” was in the original text of Ephesians 4:32.  I thank God for the English versions, unless any of you can pronounce “EUSPLAGCHNOS”.  

After I found the word in the Greek Lexicon (dictionary), I was grateful that Mr. Strong took the time to let people like me know what the original text meant.  I will only guess that pronouncing this word sounds something like coughing up phlegm, another Greek word that is somewhat tasteless.  

The meaning took me totally by surprise.  It means “Pitiful”.  Now in NEW English that means something that is looked down on, like a pitiful creature, or something to be pitied. However, in Mr. King James day, it meant that you were full of pity for something or someone.  You took pity on them. 

I don’t even like the word Pity.  It sounds something like spitting, which of course would relate back to the entire Phlegm thing.  And most of us don’t like to be “pitied”, because our pride won’t let us admit we need that.

  We Americans like to believe that there is something called a bootstrap, that we can magically pull ourselves up by, and we don’t need the pity of anyone to do it.  Last time I checked, I had no boots, and my tennis shoes don’t have straps.  But what if we humans did have bootstraps installed, how on earth would we accomplish pulling ourselves up from the bottom up?  If you wonder what I am saying, please assume the following position (lay flat on the ground), Then reach down to your feet and grab where ever bootstraps would be if you had any installed on you.  I doubt you will have any luck trying to get up. You would still need the assistance of someone else to accomplish this feat.  

Which brings me to the point I was going to make when I started this venture into Greek. 
Tenderhearted, in this scripture, means to take pity on each other.  To actually have compassion for another human being, and, if I am not mistaken, Pity will move you to action on their behalf.  Or at least to helping them find their own bootstraps. Then it will move you to help them up, since you will find that they, just like you, do not come equipped with bootstraps.  

(please watch the following video, a song that has inspired me for years to help others find their bootstraps.)  
Copyright © 2011 by Susan Linn-Gomez. All Rights Reserved.