The Opposite of "Contentious"

     Two blog posts in one day!  I'm starting this blog thing off with a bang! :)  So, if you read my first post, you read about my sister-in-law Erin who often blogs about what God is teaching her.  I thought tonight would be a good night to do one of those blogs because MAN! was God teaching me today!  This morning didn't start off great.  In fact, I started this morning off with a fight with my husband.  Basically, I wasn't being very submissive.  Of, course, my haughty heart didn't want to admit that at the time.  After the fight I decided to have a seat and read my Bible. (You know, while I was patiently waiting for God to show him how he was wrong.) Well my sister-in-law and I have been studying Proverbs 31:10-31 for about a week now, so I decided to read that.  Boy was that a bad idea! I got all the way to verse ELEVEN before God got a hold of my heart.  I was reading from my Amplified Bible and verse 11 reads "The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of (honest) gain or need of (dishonest) spoil."  God spoke to me there.  He said "How can your husband trust in you if you're not willing to submit?"  That really ticked me off.  After all, I'm never wrong. Then God put a word into my mind and kept emphasizing it - "contentious." He kept whispering it over and over. (That really got on my nerves.) So I decided to look up passages with the word "contentious" in them on my Kindle. (Did I mention I was using my Kindle to read the Bible?  I didn't yet?  Well, I was and it is GREAT!  But that will be a separate post of its own I'm sure!)      
     Anyway, I looked up "contentious" and found several verses.  The one that really stuck out to me was Titus 3:2.  Now, in the King James Bible, the verse reads "To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men."  In my Amplified Bible, the verse reads "To slander or abuse or speak evil of no one, to avoid being contentious, to be forbearing (yielding, gentle, and conciliatory), and to show unqualified courtesy toward everybody." After I read this verse, I thought, "That's it!  That's the opposite of "contentious" - "FORBEARING!"  OK. Now what on earth does that mean??? Again, the Kindle to the rescue! Just hit a button & it shows you the definition of any word! So I looked at the definition for "contentious" - "causing or likely to cause an argument." (Um, and this morning I believe my picture was right next to that definition!)
     Next I looked up the definition for "forbearing" - "patient and restrained." So, instead of being "likely to cause an argument" with Tom, I should be "patient and restrained." OK, so what does it mean to be "patient" - "being able to wait without becoming annoyed or anxious; slow to lose one's temper."  And what does it mean to be "restrained" - "characterized by reserve or moderation."  That all seemed pretty understandable.  Instead of causing an argument, I should be slow to anger and reserved.  I get that.  Then something else about the definition for "restrained" caught my eye. The fourth definition for "restrained" reads "(of a person) held down and back in a vehicle seat by a seat belt." 
Interesting! To be held by a seat belt. Hmmm...  I should be held back by a seat belt?  What could that seat belt be? Um... THE HOLY SPIRIT!  The Holy Spirit should be the One "restraining" me, holding me back from saying or doing things that aren't pleasing to the Lord. So, I say all of that to say this: You know those bumber stickers that say "God is my co-pilot."  Well, I want one that says "The Holy Spirit is my seat belt!"