LET US DO BIBLE STUDY SERIES FIVE – (Bear with one another).
BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER. (1 Cor 13:7)
Bear with means to endure or to forbear. Consider the story of Abigail who had to forbear with a difficult husband. Forbearance involves the idea of not retaliating, of not returning what the other person deserves. The New American Standard translates it as “showing tolerance for one another”. The Bible in Basic English says “putting up with one another.” That’s a hard one!
It is a believers obligation not to deceive one another with lies or by hiding from telling each other the truth even if it might hurt. What is mostimportant is that we communicate in love.
Kindness, forgiveness, compassion operating in the midst of a Christian community would make it look so different from the world. That kind of community would bring Jesus into people’s lives without question and speak to the world of his love.
Those of you who have studied the marriage passages are probably familiar with this verse. But it doesn’t merely deal with marriage but with all relationships in the community of the church. We are to listen to one another and give up our right to win, so to speak, because we are motivated by reverence for Christ.
This command precedes the verses describing Jesus’ humbling himself in death. He gave up all of the rights and privileges of being God in heaven for our sakes. We are to give up our preferences for the sake of others in that same way.
The Greek word exhort can mean instruction, warning, or admonition. It literally means placing something in someone’s mind. So this is a broad instruction telling us to talk to one another about truth, about God, about what is right and about danger that looms before us if we stray from God’s best for us.
This is a different word from the word exhort in the previous command. This one means to comfort and strengthen by means of consolation. It can also include admonition but seems to focus more than the previous word on the comfort we give one another.
Over and over God tells us to be more concerned about everyone else than about ourselves. We are to pursue what is the best thing for other people and for the group instead of only looking after ourselves.
If Jesus is present in us, he is present in others when we gather as believers. There is something positive about confessing to each other. It makes us accountable to the community for our repentance. James also says to pray for one another, which is part of sharing one another’s burdens. Ladies, we have to take seriously our responsibility to pray for one another in our groups. I know that when I ask for prayer, I am counting on those who get the request to pray. I know that you feel the same way. But we have to be as concerned to pray for others as we are that they pray for us. Community is not just about what we get out of it, but it’s about what we give to the other members of that group; it is about the tangible presence of Jesus in us loving them.
The word for hospitality suggests being a friend to a stranger. But in this case it says to do this for one another. As we show hospitality to other believers, we show the love of Jesus to them. We become His hands giving food and clothing and shelter to those who need it.
All of this seems overwhelming as we go through it. The reality is that it’s not done with mere cramming the checklist. Instead, we must focus on living out Jesus within us, loving one another as he loved us. If we live daily in touch with his presence and his power in us, we will hear him telling us how to respond to the community of faith as he would. We are his voice, his hands, and his feet to care for one another.
Let’s take a minute to consider this list of “one another"s.” Sit silently before God and ask him to impress one of them on your heart, one that you need to personally work on, one to have at the forefront of your mind. Listen to what the Lord says.
