Section 10

will see that the human living of the Lord Jesus was full of forbearance. The Lord Jesus exercised forbearance with His disciples. Can you find a case where the Lord Jesus "fired" one of them? The Lord was forbearing even with Judas.

CHRIST AS OUR FORBEARANCE

We need forbearance in the church life, espe cially in our serving together. Suppose a partic ular sister is serving in a way that is not adequate. The sister serving with her faces at least four op tions: walk away, join her in serving in her poor way, correct her, or try to improve her. None of these options involves forbearance. If the one sis ter exercises forbearance, she certainly will not walk away from the other sister. At least for a while, she will join the sister in her serving. Then she will exercise wisdom to see the sister's situ ation and to determine whether or not she can speak a word of correction or improvement in love. If the sister is not able to receive such a word, the other one needs to wait before saying any thing. Eventually, she may have an opportunity to speak not according to her own intention, but according to the leading of the Spirit. This is to exercise forbearance. If we all exercise forbearance, the church will be built up in a wonderful way.

When Paul exhorts us to let our forbearance be made known to all men, he is saying some thing of great significance. No human being is able by the natural life to fulfill such a require ment. Confucius may have been very good, but he was still sinful and fallen. Only the Lord Jesus lived a life full of forbearance, and only Christ can be our perfect forbearance today. The best word to sum up the totality of Christ's human virtues is forbearance. To make known our for bearance is to live a life which expresses Christ; it is to express the Christ by whom we live. Such a life is Christ Himself as the totality of all human virtues. This is Christ as our forbearance.

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