Section 6
may say that the Christian life is a life of forbear ance. To make our forbearance known, there fore, means to make our Christ known.
If we do not make known our forbearance, we shall have Christ only in doctrine or termi nology, but we shall not have Christ in our expe rience. Young people, your parents may know that Christ is in you. However, you need to let Christ be made known to your parents by mak ing your forbearance known to them. To all those whom we contact day by day we need to let our Christ be made known. This is to let our for bearance be known to all men.
In every chapter of Philippians Christ is re vealed. However, in chapter four a particular term—forbearance—is used to denote Christ in our experience. Do not think that chapter four of Philippians is on a lower level than chap ters one, two, and three. No, in chapter four we have Christ experienced by us and expressed through us as forbearance. We may say that the central focus of our Christian life is Christ. I certainly agree with such a statement. But from the standpoint of our practical Christian experience, the focus of the Christian life is for bearance. Forbearance is an all-inclusive Chris tian virtue. It includes love, patience, kindness,