A Powerful Realization

“You can’t change men from being men.  People will always be weak, vain, unreliable, unfair, hypocritical and arrogant.  The world will always be worldly.  And you cannot change it.  People will follow their own inclinations and habits.”  Francois Fenelon  Let Go

A powerful realization is given here.  It has helped me many, MANY times over the last couple of months.  The Word of God gives the best insight though…

“…bearing with one another in love,”  Ephesians 4:2

“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.”  Colossians 3:13

Key words are BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER.  We are ALL different, and some are weaker or stronger than us.  For me, it has been the burden of bearing with those weaker than myself.  I would get incredibly frustrated (and still do), but these verses have helped me to understand that bearing with one another is part of life.  Don’t resist it, and fight an uphill battle.  Don’t simply view them as “stupid” or inferior to you.  This is an entirely wrong thought process as pertains to those made in the image of God.  The Almighty made them as He saw fit.  Are you calling God’s work, His handcrafted creation, stupid?  Maybe, just maybe, it is our own “stupidity” (lack of desire to bear with our weaker or stronger brothers and sisters) that God wishes to work on….

Kenny

P.S.  “It should be remembered that even the best of people leave much to be desired, and we must not expect too much.  We need to be very patient with the faults of others.  The most perfect people in the world have many imperfections, and so do we.  And sometimes it is quite difficult for us to tolerate each other.  We are to ‘bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2), and I think this means, among other things, that we are to bear the burden of each other’s imperfections.  Peaceful and harmonious relationships can be helped a great deal if people just learn to be quiet, to be prayerful, and to keep surrendered to the Lord.”  Fenelon