Colossians 3:13a
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any...
In Col. 3:8 we're asked to put away anger, rage, and malice. Not easy things to do (and they are three different things I think, scroll down for my explanation of that). How would we make it through the day without at least one of these? What are we to do when someone cuts us off on the highway? Still, we are presented here with an alternative.
Forbearing and forgiving are not the same thing. With forbearance, you show tolerance for the short comings of others. Forgiving is, I think, the easier of the two. At the very least, when you forgive someone for an offense, you get a chance to point out the problem AND you get a chance to be magnanimous. "You acted poorly, but I'm big enough to forgive..." Don't get me wrong. Forgiving is a necessary thing. So is pointing out faults. People can't improve unless they know what they're doing wrong. Also, the wrong doer may be overwhelmed with guilt if they don't get the three little words: "I forgive you." We've all been there, I think.
But with forbearance, we don't point out problems, so we don't get a chance to publically forgive. Of course, we can forgive in our hearts. But no one (except God, important, that) will know how good we've been. Instead, we get to tolerate. Grin and bear it. And not with one of those false grins, either.
And something to remember about this section of the verse...it's not about those completely made-up grievances we sometimes feel against someone who has just rubbed us the wrong way. if any man have a quarrel against any suggests to me that there is a real reason for the anger we're supposed to be replacing with forbearance and forgiveness. We are told that we're to do this even as Christ forgave you. This copmarison might help with the explanation of what we're supposed to do with our fellow man. Count up the number of things you've been forgiven. Might want to take off your socks for this one. Then, here comes the kicker. Just imagine the number of things that Christ has tolerated from you, the things he forbore. Put your forbearing and forgiving in that context and you see what a small thing it is that we're asked to do. And, it's good for us, too. This is the alternative to all the anger, malice, etc that we're asked to put aside in Col. 3:8.
In Col. 3:8 we're asked to put away anger, rage, and malice. Not easy things to do (and they are three different things I think, scroll down for my explanation of that). How would we make it through the day without at least one of these? What are we to do when someone cuts us off on the highway? Still, we are presented here with an alternative.
Forbearing and forgiving are not the same thing. With forbearance, you show tolerance for the short comings of others. Forgiving is, I think, the easier of the two. At the very least, when you forgive someone for an offense, you get a chance to point out the problem AND you get a chance to be magnanimous. "You acted poorly, but I'm big enough to forgive..." Don't get me wrong. Forgiving is a necessary thing. So is pointing out faults. People can't improve unless they know what they're doing wrong. Also, the wrong doer may be overwhelmed with guilt if they don't get the three little words: "I forgive you." We've all been there, I think.
But with forbearance, we don't point out problems, so we don't get a chance to publically forgive. Of course, we can forgive in our hearts. But no one (except God, important, that) will know how good we've been. Instead, we get to tolerate. Grin and bear it. And not with one of those false grins, either.
And something to remember about this section of the verse...it's not about those completely made-up grievances we sometimes feel against someone who has just rubbed us the wrong way. if any man have a quarrel against any suggests to me that there is a real reason for the anger we're supposed to be replacing with forbearance and forgiveness. We are told that we're to do this even as Christ forgave you. This copmarison might help with the explanation of what we're supposed to do with our fellow man. Count up the number of things you've been forgiven. Might want to take off your socks for this one. Then, here comes the kicker. Just imagine the number of things that Christ has tolerated from you, the things he forbore. Put your forbearing and forgiving in that context and you see what a small thing it is that we're asked to do. And, it's good for us, too. This is the alternative to all the anger, malice, etc that we're asked to put aside in Col. 3:8.
posted by Steven at 11:44 PM
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