Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15 ESV)
Our Messiah gives us this promise before He ascended to His heavenly throne. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”[1] He command to us is to take His Word out into all of this world in effort to being others to the knowledge of Salvation. Through our living example, we are to serve as teaching disciples demonstrating how we are to live in accord with the truth of His word. But in our own efforts, can we ever hope to accomplish this with integrity? The answer is clearly no. We do not have the wherewithal to accomplish this without the help of Jesus. It is for this reason that He tells us that He will be with us until the end of the age. He will walk with us as we endeavor to follow His lead. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:6; Joshua 1:5; Isaiah 41:10-13; Hebrews 13:5).
Jesus will be with us as we walk out our faith, carrying His Word and bringing truth to others. He will bear with us as His people. In the verses we have been studying, the Apostle Paul suggests this very thing. As our Savior bears with us in our walk of faith, so too must we bear with one another (Col. 3:13). We are to endure alongside one another as we all do our best to follow our Messiah. In other words, put on then: forbearance. As disciples of Jesus a condition of our character must be patient endurance. We must exert self-control even in difficult situations for His glory. This again is not something we could accomplish by our own strength. It is only through the enduring presence of Jesus who equips us in forbearance.
In our faith, we act as His body (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4; Col. 1). We have been baptized into One faith in Jesus, but unto each one He has imparted diverse gifts to be used in service to His people, each one a valued member of the greater call to proclaim the Gospel of truth. As Paul tells us “For the body is not one member, but many (1 Cor. 12:14 NASB95).” Each of us in our own unique gifting is called to serve alongside of one another. In forbearance we are to serve with humble devotion toward Jesus. We must humbly submit to His authority in our lives, knowing that He is working all things together for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).
Jesus has given us His Word to carry. Think about that just for a moment. Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, the One who spoke all things both seen and unseen into existence through the utterance of a Word, has trusted us to be witnesses (Col. 1:13-23). The Lord has placed the Word of Salvation in our hands to carry forth. Let us then do this with joy knowing that our service with be to His glory. Let us serve with integrity, recognizing that we are ambassadors representing the hope found in our Lord. And finally, let us walk in reverence. We carry His Name. We proclaim His Word. We are living testimonies of His Salvation. Be such with reverent honor and devotion to your Savior and King! In forbearance serve alongside of one another knowing that in our service, we truly bring glory to Jesus.
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Mt 28:19–20.
Corby Shuey 