Read Ephesians 4 at Bible Gateway.
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph 4:1-3
So this is how we are called to walk with our fellow believers: with all lowliness, which means, humility, not thinking I am so great (wise, mature) and my brother is lower than me. Even the believer who has problems caused by their own bad decisions – we are to walk with them in all lowliness, and gentleness. So if they keep messing up, be gentle with them, not harsh, not abrupt, not dismissive, not prideful, not contemptuous.
We are called to walk with longsuffering, i.e. patience. Because sometimes messed up Christians and baby Christians and people who have been lied to all their lives, need a lot of work! Sometimes they keep making the same dumb mistake over and over again. Therefore, patience is required.
We are called to bear with one another, not writing one another off. Not rejecting. Not judging their hearts before the time.
We walk in humility, patience and forbearance, with love – because we are to stay united with our brotherrs. We are to live in peace with them. We are not to make mountains out of molehills and create division, but we are to strive after peace.
This does not mean we cast overboard the truth of Scripture for the sake of peace with others. But we don’t have to; we can live the way God calls us to live and still live in peace with others. The problem comes in when we try to make others live by all of our convictions. God never called us to do that. God called us to live by His standards, and then let our way of life be a witness to those who haven’t gotten it yet. It is extremely hard to mind one’s own business with all lowliness and gentleness – hard on the flesh, anyway. But that is what God has called us to. 🙂
Continued in: Ephesians 4:4-12, gifts for growth
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