Bearing with One Another in Love

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Happy Monday my friends! Today’s Monday Musings of Grace is on Ephesians 4. This passage has at least a dozen different impactful truths to discover; however, today I want to focus on bearing with one another in love.

If you’re new to Grace In My Space, I share small devotionals that I call Monday Musings of Grace on Mondays. You can view past Monday Musings {HERE} and I’m so glad you’re here today for some encouragement!

Ephesians 4

Ephesians 4 has been a passage I’ve revisited many times. There is so much to learn from what Paul writes in this chapter. However, today I want to break down simply the first three verses.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

– Ephesians 4:1-3″

Be Worthy of the Calling

I read this passage last week and this was the first time I’ve ever read Ephesians 4:1 and had that “aha” moment. “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” Wow. To even imagine what it takes to walk as someone who is worthy of God’s calling is an astounding thought.

If it were up to me, I’d assume we’d all just have to throw in the towel after reading that. How could I ever walk in a manner worthy of God’s calling? That is such an immense responsibility and something I often feel unqualified for. Thankfully, Paul tells us exactly how to go about fulfilling this command.

He simply says that we must be,

Humble, Gentle, Patient

While

Bearing with one another in love

and

Maintaining Unity and Peace

Breaking this expectation down is a quick way to see what God expects of us as Christians living and encouraging each other in love. These characteristics are traits we should be striving for as Christ-followers each day and I think that they all intertwine to work together to accomplish this one mission: To bear with one another in love.

Bear with One Another in Love

How many times have you needed someone to come alongside you and bear a burden? The weight of life can be crushing at times without having someone we trust and love to come shoulder to shoulder with us. I know I’ve walked alongside friends and family who’ve suffered immensely and had them come alongside me as well.

Lost jobs, crushing financial burdens, adultery, death and sickness, loss of faith, loss of hope, mental illness. When I think of all of the burdens I’ve had the privilege to help bear it is difficult to comprehend how we, as humans, can have the strength to do it all. But the key is that we aren’t doing it alone.

We are bearing with one another in love. And we are doing that with humility, gentleness, and patience with the goal of maintaining peace and unity. When we break it down it doesn’t seem so insurmountable.

Ephesians 4 goes on to explain further how to work in community with each other as one body. It’s a beautiful picture and I encourage you to read the whole chapter this week.

But for today, I want to encourage you to search for ways you can help bear someone’s burden. How can you show gentleness and love to someone in need? It doesn’t have to be complicated or extreme. Sometimes all we need is someone to say, “I see you, and I care.”

Or perhaps you’re in need of someone to come alongside you. Seek out someone you can trust to show you genuine love and stop trying to bear your burden alone. God never intended for us to plow through life solo. He made us for community, one body through one Spirit, serving one Lord with all of our own talents and gifts.

So my friends, let’s take this week and seek out community and fellowship in the deeper sense. Let’s bear with one another in love. Send encouragement to someone today and watch how you are blessed by it right back.

{Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. – Ephesians 4:15-16}