When we see fault in one another instead of keeping our eyes on the fellowship toward which the Spirit is leading us, it is only because we "have Jesus in the stern of the ship, and we are out on the bow." Is there something you see in a brother or sister that you do not like? So what? I hardly know a person in Christ that I have not seen something about them I didn't like, but my excitement about seeing Jesus mold us into a perfectly joined body has always made it possible for me not to hang on to the fault but to look with great anticipation for the fellowship. And Jesus has done it for us over and over again as the years have passed. How sad it is to see anyone get "hung up" on the fault of a brother or sister, and stop growing in grace!
You know, and we all do, that our heavenly Father certainly saw things about us from the beginning that He did not like. But if He had stopped there, where would we be today? He has loved us, patiently tolerated us, helped us, encouraged us, chastened us, but all for the same reason that Jesus endured the cross - in anticipation of fellowship with us in His light.
Thank God for His love! I love receiving it, and I love giving it. It is, as Jesus said, "more blessed to give than to receive", but it is impossible to be blessed that way, to give God's love, until we have first received it from God. It is true that we are able to love God only because He first loved us, and it is also true that it is only because God first loved us that we are able to love one another. Jesus loved us in hope of someday having fellowship with us in the light. Let us "forbear one another in love" for that same precious hope. Anybody can find fault; only those who have been loved by God can find the path that leads to harmony in spirit.
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