40 Days of Prayer

Bearing in Love

  
"Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load." Galatians 6:1-5 ESV

"Thus the law of Christ is a law of bearing. Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him. The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. The burden of men was so heavy for God Himself that He had to endure the Cross." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

The church is divided. There are those who want to zealously keep the law of Moses burdening others with their own devotion and those who have neither the willingness or desire to keep such laws. Paul is describing for us how to bring unity and community to the divided and diverse people within any Christian fellowship. It is our responsibility and more importantly the mark of Christian maturity to do so.

The word bear is used twice in the first five verses of Galatians; once in describing our actions toward others and next in describing our actions toward ourselves. Bonhoeffer uses the word forbear which is defined as being patient when subject to annoyance. He goes on to use the words "suffer" and "endure" when describing our actions toward one another. These are not the words I normally associate with loving my brother. But that is the point. It is not the "easy to love" people - the ones who think like us, have the same interests, the same sense of humor or the same worldview that burden us. It is the "hard to love" people that burden us. In other words, if you are not annoyed by that person, then you really don't have to bear or forbear anything about them. It is interesting that the very next verse cautions us about our pride because at the root of our conflict and frictions with others is the thought that we are better than them.

Paul goes on to say that each of us bear our own load. This burden is different from the burden of others that we are called to bear. Here Paul is referring to our work, ministry, gifts, or opportunities within the Christian fellowship. How do we love our brothers - with a gentle compassionate humility or with a harsh impatient eye-rolling tolerance? Bonhoeffer challenges us to move beyond tolerance to find joy in our brothers, especially those who are hard to love.

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2 ESV

Pray that Grace Redeemer will strive to be a body as diverse as the people God has created and that within that diversity there is great love for one another.