A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Bear One Another"

 There is an old “Peanuts” cartoon that has Charlie Brown and Linus leaning one the wall. Charlie Brown is gazing off into the horizon and quietly proclaims, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.” No getting around it, sometimes it is difficult to work with certain people. The church is no different. In fact it may be even truer in the church, for you don’t get to choose the people who attend and work with you in your church. The church is made up of all sorts of personalities coming from innumerable backgrounds and situations. It is a group of people in all levels of maturity, physical and spiritual. They have different educational backgrounds, political views, approaches to handling things, cultural experiences and ways of talking. Let’s face it, the church is a hodgepodge of the most unlikely people thrust together by Christ, called, empowered, and expected to be “One.” How are we to accomplish this?

 It requires nothing less than Divine enablement for us to flesh out our “oneness in Christ.” Nevertheless, Scripture reveals we have the responsibility to draw upon His enablement to flesh out our oneness. It also provides directions on how to flesh it out. Paul gave inspired direction to the “holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse” and to us. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

 The key to the issue we are facing is “bear one another.” Or to put it in more modern day terminology, “put up with each other.” This is to make light of this powerful injunction, but the fact is that sometimes that is just what needs to be done. We need to put up with each other as we walk together in the way and work together to accomplish God’s will. Lest we miss it, note that this is not simply “grit your teeth and put up with each other.” Rather, we are given clear direction on what it means and how we are to bear one another.

 We are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Notice that these Christ-like virtues, these expressions of the Fruit of the Spirit, are all relational. They are how we relate with and to others. We need to recognize that as difficult as a person may be to deal with, we may be just as difficult for them to deal with. Clothing ourselves with these virtues helps us keep things in proper perspective. With these virtues governing our actions each person is dealt with in love, with each person being seen and understood as one whom Christ died for. These virtues allow us permission to grow, learn, make mistakes, and struggle along the way, as we strive toward Christ-likeness.

 Bearing one another also requires that we forgive one another, just as Christ forgave us. Whether the action that hurt or wounded was intentional or accidental, whether our anger is justified or unjustified, whether the infraction large or small, we must forgive. Forgiveness is not an option for Christians. Jesus made this clear in his Sermon on the Mount as well as in several others places. Scripture is replete with the command for us to forgive and if the church is ever to reach the unity that God intends for us, forgiveness must be offered and received. Forgiveness is not explaining away the infraction or making light of it. It is the deliberate loving act of canceling the debt, releasing them from accountability. This is not easy. It is exceedingly costly for the person forgiving. That is why Paul goes on to direct us to put on love over all these virtues, for not only do the virtues flow out of divine love, it alone provides what we need to exercise them.

 Beloved it is time for the church to act and live like the church by bearing with one another. It is not necessary to run away from that local congregation when we have been hurt to find another church that will treat us better. It is not necessary for us to demand on our way and to leave if we don’t get it. It is not necessary for us to ignore and shun that person in our local congregations that doesn’t treat us the way we think we should be treated. It is necessary for us to fulfill God’s will by bearing with one another, moving beyond and forward. Only then will we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus attaining the full measure of Christ Jesus. Let us commit together “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved” to clothe ourselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Let us bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances we may have against one another. Let us forgive as the Lord forgave us. And over all these virtues let us put on love, which binds them all together, in perfect unity.

Keep Close to Jesus.


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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