Skip to main content

Bearing With One Another


Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

          In writing, lists can be presented in arbitrary order, in order from most to least important, or in order from least to most important. In Hebrew poetry, at least, the convention was to go from least to most important. Doctrine shouldn’t be set that bearing with one another in love is more important than being completely humble and gentle, but the argument should be made that the statement leads up to bearing with one another in love. The preceding matter expresses the (not exhaustive) components of the full command.
          Part of the reason I tend to withdraw from people and relationships is that I know myself to be difficult to love. Another reason is that you are difficult to love. Both of us may say, “No, I’m easy to love, all you have to do is… give me everything I want, do what I want you to, don’t try to change me, and – if we argue - eventually conceded that I’m right!” But don’t concede too quickly because then I’ll think you think I’m a wimp and you’re humoring the idiot. What could be simpler? 
          If we’re honest, we’ll admit that there are times when we’re less than lovable and less than loving. It is in those moments when we want others to bear with us in love, and it is in those moments when others are not lovable that we most need to bear with them in love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more