“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2).
Because of all that Jesus has done…
Because Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin and death…
We are prisoners for the Lord.
As such, because of all that Jesus has done for us, we are called to live a life worthy of our calling. How do we do that? Aren’t you glad that the Bible tells us? “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
We demonstrate our service to Jesus by humbling ourselves and choosing gentleness with others by bearing with one another in love.
It’s interesting that the word there isn’t just to be humble and gentle by loving one another. No. Another word is added there that amplifies what God desires for us to do – “bearing” with one another in love.
What does that look like?
Brother Curtis Alenquist of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston writes: In many circumstances of life, we end up sharing life with people we would not have chosen, some of whom we inevitably find quite challenging. The monastic tradition has a name for these sometimes-quite-difficult people: TEACHERS. They teach us about ourselves; they expose us to what otherwise we may not see in ourselves or show to others.
Teachers.
We are to love one another by bearing with one another because there are lessons yet to be learned that will only come through the presence of our TEACHERS.
Praxis: Faith in Action 