Love Bears Up

What does "bear" mean?  Uphold, sustain, shore up, strengthen.  There is no weakness in bearing up.  It takes strength and stamina to bear up. 

You might say "My husband knows the bible and he knows better!"  This may be true, but we are human and we have off days and weaknesses.  When we express our love by bearing up, we reinforce the existing foundation he already has.

Ephesians 4:26 says "…but bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another." We must be willing to make allowances for each other.

When you see someone in trouble, like a heavy weight is falling on them, you would go assist them in "bearing" that weight so all of it doesn't land on the person and hurt them.  You would endeavor to lift that weight off them.  It is the same when your husband seems to be angry or rude to you.  It's not as obvious, but they are bearing a heavy weight.  Maybe it is the weight of worry or doubt.  But it's up to you to walk in love with him by " bearing" part of the weight (making allowances for his behavior and praying for him).   Walking in love is not adding to the weight by responding back with anger and doubt of your own.

Yes, it's going to take some renewing of your mind with the word of God to walk in love.  Yes, your old man is not completely out of the picture.  It does not automatically disappear when you got born again.  It takes a continual renewing of the mind and meditating on the Word of God.  As mentioned before, He will never tell you to do something you cannot do.  We now have His nature.  His love nature.

Ephesians 1:7-8 has something to say about God's nature.  And since we have His nature, we have the ability to be this way with our husband.

⁷In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses) in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor, ⁸which he lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding.

And Colossians 3:13 says "Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive]."

Let us be generous in our mercy and forgiveness towards our husband.  Let us be constantly believing the best about our husband.

© 2011 Michelle Serna