Day #34

"...with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love." Eph 4:12

And there you have it. As mentioned many times previously, being united in spirit is a very important factor to be observed in a community. We all have our own missions, our own callings, our own passions, but they should all work out to the glory of God, and the edification of the body we are all a part of.

So how should our positions change, knowing this is the case?

The verse is pretty much clear cut, and straight to the point.

'Bear with one another in love.'

One. It implies that we will be faced with situations where we cannot live with what other people are thinking, doing, or how they do it. That is to be expected - after all, we are human, and it is human nature to resist things which are not of our own mould, to resist any sort of change to the environment we are used to. But, knowing this, we are then asked to bear with each other, knowing full well that they have to bear with our quirky habits as well. And we do this not out of compulsion, not out of obligation, not because we are 'better' than them - no absolutely not - but IN love.

The word 'in' here seems to suggest that we actually have to make an active effort to bear with other people if we want to do it in love. Simply bearing with them just because we have to is nowhere near enough, and is beside the point. Doing it in love means we acknowledge we are not perfect, but that does not matter with us - it does not matter with God, right? Besides, aren't we all called to love our neighbours as ourselves?

I'm sure we love ourselves very much.

"that you put off, concerning your former conduct, your old man... and be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Eph 4:22-23

Again 'put off' here signifies a conscious decision to put it off, to take off our old man and not be burdened by it anymore.

For as long as we are still living by our old ways, how can expect God to continue His work in us? He is ready, but we are not, continually delaying and delaying His plans for us.

Going through life, we sometimes find we hit a rut in our journey, where everything seems to be going by so fast, it's all we can do to try to keep up. And we eventually get stuck and bogged down into a daily routine, living each day just to get by, just to get by. Time to wake up! Where is the sense of freshness, the sense of renewal we should have each day? After all, aren't we likened to be trees by the river of life, the river of rejoicing?

Indeed, God's plan for our lives couldn't have been more simple, if only we choose to have faith, to have hope, and to love.

Prayer : Father in heaven how we love you. Today we pray You will imprint Your love on our hearts, that we will choose the way of love, to walk in love, simple because You have chose to love us first. Give us a forgiving heart and a composed temperament, slow to anger, quick to listen, and the last to speak. But most importantly, teach us how to live our lives, the way You intended us to. Amen.