Walk Worthy- Forbear

"Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love." Eph  4:1-2.

We have to live our lives in LOWLINESS, in MEEKNESS,  being LONG-SUFFERING, FORBEARING ONE ANOTHER- in LOVE.

Do we?

Just how forbearing are we?  Do we set limits on our forbearance? We say things like- "I've had enough."  We say those words don't we? We end our forbearance when we reach a point often times undetermined from the get go but decided upon during a situation that is not to our liking.   We are blessed beyond comprehension that our Savior didn't say those words concerning us and our behavior. He forbears with us. 

This doesn't mean we won't ever get angry, our Savior became angry at the results of sin.  Our Savior overturn money tables at the Temple, our Savior cried out His despair over the hardness of the Pharisees hearts.  But our Savior did not stop the soldiers taking Him to the cross and say, "I've had enough."  

Love demands forbearance.  People who do not forbear hurt others, they don't love them. A healthy, mentally, emotionally stable mother who abandons her child because the child is to difficult to deal with, is not loving that child.  A marriage partner who abandons their spouse because it's too hard to endure that spouse's bad habits (not talking adultery or abuse here)  is not loving that spouse.  When we stop forbearing we STOP LOVING.

We are called to forbear one another ALL the time, daily, minutely. Over and over our forbearance is tested. Satan loves to use our inability to endure irritations large and small against us.  By the grace of God we will be able to recognize Satan's ploys and call upon God to keep us from the evil that Satan would have us commit.

Please, Father, please teach us forbearance, teach us love, teach us to rely solely upon YOU.  

As Christ Forgave You

FORGIVE!

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

FORGIVE!

Stop holding grudges! It doesn't matter  what has been done to you, and I mean that! I do, I really, really do. No, I haven't been through a lot of awful things others have been through and maybe it is easy for me to say this, I don't know. I have had my share of hard knocks, my share of private agonies that have given me the need to forgive others so I do understand that it isn't always easy to forgive.  I have also been in need of forgiveness, a lot of forgiveness.

Maybe it's because I need to be forgiven so much that I know I have to forgive those who have wronged me.

It's not always the case for people though, is it?  Needing to be forgiven equally to forgiving others. Some people have to forgive horrific things when they've never done anything nearly as horrific as what was done to them.  Some are quite innocent in the grand scheme of things compared to the awfulness they endure.  Yet there is something we do need to remember perhaps, something that puts things into perspective a little tiny bit-

A single sin left unforgiven by our Savior warrants death.  And that single sin warrants death because that unforgiven sin no matter how tiny separates us from our God.  And when we are separated from God we are separated from the very source of life eternal.  If we separate ourselves from the source of eternal life we have no eternal life, we have death.

No sin should be left unforgiven.

If we need to forgive someone for a one time horror, or a slew of horrors, then that is what we need to do because we need every single one of our sins to be forgiven. 

People will say they can never forgive the horrors beyond imagining, and shouldn't have to. They say this without realizing that our forgiving others HELPS US!  It is in a way- self serving to forgive, to truly forgive. 

And when we say we need to forgive someone we must forgive entirely. Forgiving means recognizing the wrong and choosing to NOT let that wrong keep us from loving.  That's what we want from our Savior when He forgive us, isn't it? We want Him to recognize we've sinned and choose to love us even though we have sinned.  We want Him to love us even though we've wronged Him, even though we've chosen to separate ourselves from Him in our sinning.  He is LIFE!

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

When we forgive others we reveal our belief in Christ's forgiveness.

Are you one of God's elect?

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

The elect of God.

The elect must PUT ON these things.  To believe the elect automatically possess all the attributes here would be a mistake. We have to put on these things, just as we put on the whole armor of God.  We aren't taking a physical helmet and sliding it on our heads as Christian, we are taking the salvation offered to us and making it a reality to us, letting it protect us. And we must put on bowels of mercies, we have to be merciful. We have to put on kindness, we must be kind.  If we NATURALLY possessed these things would we have to put them on? NO.  We wouldn't have to be told to put them on if they were on us. We have to make an EFFORT to put these things, a conscious effort and we make a HUGE mistake believing that they should come naturally to us. That's a trap Satan loves to use with us. He'll waste no time getting us to believe that because we weren't instantly merciful we aren't truly Christ's. The same goes for being kind.  When we display something less than kindness and then use that to make us believe we aren't Christ's we are hurting our walk with Christ. We have to recognize that we must PUT on the mercy, PUT on the kindness and if we aren't putting it on, if we aren't kind or merciful in some instance we need to bow before Christ and seek forgiveness for the behavior that isn't that of elect of God.  We must comprehend we are NOT perfect but seek Christ's perfection, understanding we must ALWAYS seek Christ's perfection.  We need to be longsuffering, but our impatience proves that often impossible, doesn't it? We would despair over our impatience, our lack of humbleness, our not being meek if we seek these things as if they are of our own making. We must seek Christ first and know these things come from Christ, and put them on as Christ would have us put them on.

Forbearing one another, forgiving one another- if any man have a quarrel against ANY- even as CHRIST forgave you, so also do ye…..

We must forgive as we are forgiven and this is something we cannot ever afford to forget this, not ever.

When we are tempted to hold a grudge, when we are tempted to hold fast to the hurt that someone has caused us we are in a way asking Christ to do the same- to hold a grudge against us, to hold fast to the hurt we've cause Him, and that's the LAST thing we really want to do, in fact Christ CAN'T do that without us letting Him by us NOT forgiving others.  When we forgive others we reveal our belief in Christ's forgiveness.

When we choose not to forgive others we are revealing our disbelief in Christ's forgiveness of us- this is truth.  Because if WE can be forgiven all our awful sins how dare we have the audacity to believe we shouldn't forgive others ALL their sins!

Truth!

Please Father, please help us to put on all the attributes Christ would have us put on because of HIS mercy, because of HIS forgiveness, because of HIS LOVE for us we would be HIS.

Amen.

The Book of Truth

Truth- the Gospel.

The Gospel-the Kingdom of Heaven is Real.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Real-a Future Hope for All at the Second Coming of our Savior.

The things we should think on- true things and this is the greatest truth of all.

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Whatsoever things are true- God is true, God's love is true, the Savior is true, the Savior's love is true, the Holy Spirit is true, the Holy Spirit's love is true.  We know these things are true beyond any doubt.  In a world where there is so much doubt THIS is not something we should doubt at all, it is the truest truth of all.

We need to THINK on this, we need to truly THINK on the true-ness of our Gods.  When we get caught up in thinking things that aren't true- when we get caught up in the worries and cares of this life- we have to pull our thoughts away from that and towards what we know to be true. 

We have a whole book of truth to study from, to think on.

By God's grace may we do this, may we think on the LOVE of our Lord.

Think on... this

What kinds of thoughts are we supposed to be thinking? Is this a strange question to ask? Probably because often we feel as if we have no control whatsoever over the things we think. We'll say stuff like- 'This just popped in my head.'  Or we'll say- 'My thoughts were all over the place.'  Things like that aren't uncommon and they are true. We do have thoughts pop into our heads and sometimes it does seem as if our thoughts are all over the place.  Our Bible tells us this--

Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Truth, honesty, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous, praiseworthy-these are the purposeful thoughts we are to fill our mind with.

So while we do have things pop into our minds, and oftentimes not very pleasant things, and while we do sometimes feel as if our minds are racing in a hundred different directions at once, when we are nudged by the Holy Spirit to remember this verse, we need to direct our thoughts away from what we might call 'bad' thoughts. We need to think on things that are true and by that we shouldn't think on things that are lies, or things that are unknown because if we dwell on the unknown we are dwelling on things we can't know are true or not.  For instance, if I start thinking about my future it is for the most part unknown- we are told this--

'Jas_4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. '

We don't even know if we will live to see tomorrow, yet this can't stop us from planning various things in our lives. If we all lived as if there were no tomorrow we wouldn't live very good lives. However we have to realize that beyond a certain point we must trust wholly in the Lord and not worry about our tomorrows. Easy to say, hard to do.

It is true that if I live until tomorrow that I might go shopping, I plan on going shopping to pick up a few things.  If I start thinking about the weather tomorrow I'm thinking about something I can't know for certain but I might believe a weather man telling me his predictions based on the science behind his profession. If I worry about tomorrow's unknowns I am not thinking on something that is true because the future is largely unknown and not full of facts, not full of truths. There are future truths and they are given to us by God through His Word.   Our Savior will return- this is a future truth I can think on, and should think on all the time. Our Savior took on flesh to reveal this truth fully to mankind.

More on all of this tomorrow, by the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, all in HIS LOVE!

'...that I may win Christ'

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ

Is this truth?

Counting ALL things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord?

Counting ALL THINGS, yes, ALL THINGS but loss. Can we do this or are we too busy telling ourselves over and over that God understands, choosing to believe that God can bend His truths for us because He knows our limitations. Telling ourselves that God doesn't want us to suffer by depriving us of our *things*.  We give ourselves permission to accumulate all sorts of things, and to go to great lengths to keep those things.  We do this and we console ourselves. Yet how do we do this in truth when we read things like the above verse?  The Apostle said-  '… for whom I have suffered the loss of ALL THINGS, and do count them but DUNG, that I may WIN CHRIST.'

How can we believe that we aren't to suffer the loss of all things before denying any truth given to us by You?

We are so incredibly weak, at least I know I am.  I am weak! I scream out as Paul… That which I would do I do not, and that which I would not that I do!  I'm vile and weak! Thank GOD that Jesus Christ is MY RIGHTEOUSNESS, because I have NONE.

Please Father, all that I am called to do, give me the Holy Spirit whose power can do all that You will for me to do, I have no power of my own to do anything. My weaknesses, my failings are revealed to me daily, hourly, minutely and my sins are truly ever before me. Please, FORGIVE me, please help me to be Yours above all things, above all else.

Help me to be able to say that I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.  Help me to comprehend that to lose the things in my life is not Your punishment, but often a necessary allowance so we can grow in grace and knowledge of You. Truly You must be our all in all beyond everything else! Help us to live to this end- You, as everything to us, the most important part of our lives, more than anything else- with truthfully everything else being nothing but dung,  with You as EVERYTHING, truthfully, really everything!

Help Us LORD, help us! Keep us in YOU, keep us from all EVIL. 

All through our Savior's love, all in HIM, by Him and no other!

Amen.

'Where truth does not soften the heart, it hardens it...'

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Albert Barnes Notes On the Bible had this to say-

'Might be made blind - Such would be the effect of his preaching. It would exasperate them, and their pride and opposition to him would confirm them more and more in their erroneous views. This is always the effect of truth. Where it does not soften it hardens the heart; where it does not convert, it sinks into deeper blindness and condemnation.'

The Pharisees were exasperated by Jesus' preaching. The Pharisees were very prideful. The Pharisees were in opposition to the Savior.  The truth did NOT enlighten the Pharisees, they believed they were already enlightened and in need of NO enlightenment.

We get caught up in the same trap- thinking that we know all we need to know, but we are forever learning from our Savior. We are forever growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord.

2Pe 3:1  This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2Pe 3:2  That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Forever growing in grace and knowledge of our LORD and SAVIOR, this is what we must do! We can never reach a place where we can say we know it all, God will have us forever learning.  He is our all in all, He is our everything, He is the One who has no need, who see unblinded always. We need all the sight He can give us, we need the Holy Spirit opening our hearts and minds fully to Him all through HIS grace and love, always!