Bearing With One Another in Love

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE

Eph 4:1-6

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

NIV

Having explored the idea of being completely humble as part of living a life worthy of our calling, we move on to be patient, bearing with one another in love. Of course, this being patient is an extension of being completely humble and gentle. In Greek the word order appears to be one complete thought. (With all lowliness and meekness with longsuffering forbearing one another in love) at least that is the interlinear version, not the direct Greek meaning. But the point is the same as we are in order to be patient one needs to be humble and gentle and all that type of personality traits or attitudes has to come from a loving heart. It would seem it is impossible to be patient with anyone unless we first love them, which would not just include our fellow believers, but also those who do not believe. If we are patient then we cannot have any condemnation for another’s act of sin. If we love them, we cannot have any hatred or anger, bitterness, or refuse to forgive them if they offended us in any way. Of course then if we were actually completely humble and gentle being patient we would not ever be offended in the first place. Feeling offended is a result of thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. Feeling offended is a self-centered attitude, rather than God-centered one. The point is that being patient according to the Greek word includes endurance, constancy, steadfastness, and perseverance. All of those qualities, or attitudes are focused on being beneficial for another person, rather than for ourselves, although, having those attitudes would also be highly beneficial for us as well. Being patient and bearing with one another in love would eliminate a whole lot of stress in our lives. Instead of always being upset or agitated about somebody or something they did, we simply are patient with them because we love them. Remembering the great love verse of 1 Corinthians 13,

1 Cor 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

NIV

The very first thing is that love is patient and kind. When we see all those qualities of love it bears noting they are all about the other person, our loving them, our being patient and bearing with them because we love them. Of course, this can apply in a marriage and just think how great it would be if we lived like that. However, in addition, just think what kind of church we would have if we were not patient, not kind, and we envied each other and boasted about our achievements or our ministry, always telling everyone what we did or are doing for the church or the kingdom. What kind of church would we have if we were always prideful about our good deeds, or we ignored someone, which is being rude, or we were all about our self-edification? What kind of church would we be if we are so easily angered by someone’s comments or if we were ignored, or gossiped about? What kind of church would we have if we remembered everyone’s faults? However, what kind of church would we be if we always protected each other, we always trusted each other and we always hoped in each other and always persevered with each other and always loved each other? Then we would be patient bearing with one another in love.