Putting up with each other

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. – Ephesians 4.1-3

I am glad these verse fell where they did for me this year. Virtually every phrase is a reminder of things I need to work on to make 2020 a better year in my service for the Lord.

Meekness and lowliness are traits that we need to have in our lives, but the first test of them is a little harder. We are challenged to have long-suffering and forbearing each other in a spirit of love. In other words – we need to learn to put up with each other.

That sounds like a little thing, but it is a lot bigger ‘thing’ than we first consider. All of us can be difficult at times and we can all find that others can be difficult for us to deal with. Face it, we can all be jerks at times and jerks are never easy to deal with.

I am amazed that people are able to put up with me. I know I can be difficult to deal with and get along with. I don’t try to be that way but sometimes my flesh just wins out and I can like a real jerk.

It’s because of people like me that we have to be told to forebear and tolerate each other.

Think though what would happen in this world if we did not learn to bear with each other. How long would friendships last? How long would churches survive? How long would marriages last?

I think the key to putting up with each other, apart from the grace of God, is realising that at the same time I am told to put up with others is that they are told to put up with me. That doesn’t mean of course that we don’t correct them when they are wrong or tell them when they have offended us. It means that when we do that we do it with the goal of insuring that the relationship is not destroyed and understanding that maybe I am the one who needs to change.