Love – Part 5
Ephesians 4:1-2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Another aspect or characteristic of love is the idea of forbearance, or bearing with one another; making allowances for faults and weaknesses of others without passing judgment.
Of course throughout this series we have seen that the Lord is our example. We read in Romans 2:4, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”
In the English NIV Bible version this word forbearance is translated “tolerance.” However, the idea is to endure and bear with, and this is why in the KJV Bible version it is translated as forbearance.
Today in our Western society we have a different understanding of what the Scriptures mean by tolerance, different than what we are looking at here. The tolerance that our society is trying to get across is having tolerance towards things and lifestyles that are in direct conflict with the Word of God. That is another kind of tolerance that has nothing to do with ‘right’ relationships.
God is tolerant towards us, but that which is not in accord with His Word He will judge and so must we. We cannot be taken in by our society that tells us that we should be tolerant (in their definition) and not make any judgments of our own as to right or wrong.
The way this word tolerance or forbearance is used in regards to relationships is that we decide in advance to bear that person up in their time of weakness. We all have faults and so we should be ready to hold each other up and encourage one another on in what is right and good.
Just like patience and forgiveness go hand in hand so does tolerance (forbearance) and acceptance. As an act of our will we decide that we are going to accept that person as he/she is with their weakness and faults. This is what love is all about: acceptance of one another. We can accept the person without agreeing with their lifestyle.
So often we have communicated to our spouse, children and others that if they change we will accept them. Christ accepted us just like we are and because of His acceptance of us, and who He is, we want to change and not because we want to be accepted but because we have been accepted.
This does not mean that God is tolerant of our sinful behavior. NO! But He is tolerant towards us as individuals. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. When this grace is operating in us the result is unity in our homes, schools, jobs, churches or wherever. Isn’t this what we need today in our churches and society?
The Lord said: “Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the sons of God.” Sons, not children. There is a difference between sons and children and it is a difference of maturity. Sons speak of maturity whereas children speak of immaturity. Sons are the ones who can build and maintain right relationships.
The problem that we have in many of our churches is that we have too many children and not enough sons. When it comes to our relationships might we become mature, and more like God’s own Son. Amen?