Forbearance.
"Rejoice always before God,
but before men be forbearing."
-Luther, Martin
God, my Father, has been bringing this word
to my ears in many different ways this past month. Reading Luther’s text (Sermon on Philippians
4:4-7) filled my heart with the convictions I have already been having about
forbearance, endurance, or long-suffering.
Following Paul’s words closely in 1 Cor. 9:19-22 I was struck by the
part when he said “I brought myself under bondage to every brother, that I
might gain the more.”
He’s talking about people, and not just the ones we like and feel naturally drawn to but to the other ones too. The mean ones, the cold ones, the rich ones, the poor ones, the feisty ones, the annoyingly quiet ones, and the rude ones, yes, even the strange ones that smell a little sour.
He’s talking about being a servant to people, meaning he listens to
them, treats them as worthy masters of his time and efforts, and in doing so
wins them to Christ. He’s talking about
love. Loving people is one of the most
difficult things in the world because it is incompatible with thoughts you have
for yourself. I don’t think you can love
someone while having thoughts about yourself.
It is precisely the moment we think about ourselves, our time, our
needs, our preferences, our desires, that we disconnect our heart’s plug toward
another person. You cannot outwardly
love someone while inwardly thinking about yourself. Love is in itself a complete and utter self-giving, not in part,
but in whole. Can we love in part? Is that even possible? Can part of me love someone while another
part be indifferent or apathetic? We
would like to think so because this is the majority of how we practice “loving
others.”
Luther writes, that “as the meekness and gentleness of Christ is
made apparent to us, so we are to moderate our attitude, our demands, our
wisdom and wit, adapting ourselves to the circumstances of others in all
respects.” Dang, what does that really
mean? It means we care what’s in the
heart of the people God places in our lives, because they are opportunities for
us to partake of love. So we care. We take their judgments and their sharp words
or rejections and we care for them all the more by rejoicing when they rejoice,
mourning with them when they mourn, and carrying their burdens without
expectations of reciprocation or appreciation.
We adapt our lives to their circumstances in all respects with the
liberty we have so that we might save some to the Gospel which saved us in just
that same way.
But what does God say? Is Love
something we can do without fully giving our entire self over? I don’t think so. I look at Christ who laid down his life for us
and this tells me that love is all or nothing.
To love is to lay down one’s life for another. When someone lays their life down there is no
reciprocal action, just self-giving unto death.
1 John 3:16 says,
“This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for
us.
We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.”
I see the beauty and the purity of
that kind of attitude, but very little possibility of it in my own heart. I was reading this and found myself on the
verge of tears thinking, that is the life of Christ, but why do I keep
falling off away from that which is most beautiful to my mind’s eye? And then all those wonderfully cheeky lines
pertaining to our freedom and liberty of such a life of love and faith really
calmed me down. Luther exclaims that “to
exercise our liberty in the observance of these commands, works no harm to
faith nor to the Gospel; but to observe them by a forced act of obedience,
destroys faith and the Gospel.” And
again elsewhere he writes, “To conform to law in a spirit of love and liberty
works no harm, but to conform through necessity and forced obedience is to be
condemned.” And again, “When urged as
inherently essential, we are to refrain; we must oppose them in order to
maintain the liberty of faith.”
Haha. The rebel in me has found
redemption with Luther’s expressions above.
To be washed in the Gospel amidst my weakness in relation to the law I
needed it to be spoken over my soul again and again a thousand times a thousand
times over that although I’ve fallen away on so many accounts I am given grace
to be shaped again and again in this area of forbearing before men.
My prayer is thus:
Lord, that no one could take You
away from me is awesome.
I am covered in
redemption, but without forbearance before men I fail to see this and make
myself blind to grace. Tie me to Christ,
that alter, that I might truly live a life worthy of your calling and beautiful
to those who experience my presence through forbearance. You take care of me Father, and not my
thoughts ruled by anxiety and pride, and strip from me my inclination to stare
at my sin far longer than my Savior.
Teach me to rejoice in the hope I have in You, which is constant, even
amidst seemingly unbearable circumstances and deep sorrows of my heart that
weigh upon all my senses, and keep my fragile heart because Your hands are
mighty and only a King could protect it.
Thank you and please, please take captive and enkindle my heart. Let this prayer penetrate heaven, keep it
from getting cold and dull, and extinguish the doubts therein as I lift it up
to You in faith. Not with uncertainty,
but by making my request known, God I ask that you walk me through forbearance
so that I might be preserved through Christ Jesus.
I want the peace that transcends reason,
because such peace is a gift you secure for my soul amidst evils that surround
me so I would not ask when, why, or how, but forbear and wait upon You alone in
the suffering or in the despair, that my heart remain out of reach from all
dangers that disillusion me. Father,
Father, I failed so many times in forbearance, but here I am upon the alter of
Christ, I’m sorry and I’m thirsty for living water that I could not have save
for Christ’s blood here that I sense in this feeble prayer from my fragile
heart. You keep me. I bring nothing but failures and sins to You,
in exchange for glory, honor, and Your love.
Take my heart and keep it with You.
From on High watch my life below manifest your hold on my heart.
In Jesus name I
pray, Amen
Jmegrey
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