Hello and welcome back to the A United Front course. In this lesson, we will continue toward the goal of becoming a united front with our spouse against the attacks of the devil, the weakness of the flesh and the allurements of this world.
We’ve been considering Colossians 3:12-14 and so far, we’ve studied what it means to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, and meekness. We have seen that all these attributes can be learned from Christ by looking to and considering His finished work on Calvary. What a precious Savior we have who not only saves us from sin but also works in us and wills us to live in this new way of Spirit-filled living.
Let’s refer back to Colossians 3:12-14 and continue in our study:
“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.” Colossians 3:12-14
Question 1. According to Colossians 3:12-13, we are to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and ______, bearing with one another.
Ah, patience! Solomon wrote, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
Standing on the other side of this trial and heartache which you are now navigating, I can say truly "the end of it" is indeed better than its beginning. I can also assure you that if you will trust in God and comfort yourself with the hope of the gospel through this challenging time, you will grow in the area of patience.
Patience (or more literally longsuffering) is undoubtedly a characteristic which must be cultivated and learned at the feet of Jesus. You may have also noticed in your reading of Colossians 3:12-13 that linked with patience is the phrase "bearing with one another," or some versions say, "forbearing."
These two qualities—patience and forbearance—are like two sides of the same coin. The first side, patience indicates an optimistic restraint—holding back your frustration or negative feelings with the hope that things will change. While the second side, forbearance or "bearing with one another" means to "hold oneself up" while waiting for change.
In short, the encouragement to you is: don't sink, hold on, be patient with your spouse.
None of us are born patient or forbearing. We must learn it. So, come with me now to Jesus, the One Whose burden is light and Whose yoke is easy, the One from Whom we may learn these traits which will serve our hearts and marriages well.
Look with me at Luke 13: 6-9:
And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Question 2. In Luke 13:7, Jesus tells a parable; what did the owner of the vineyard want to do with the fig tree that did not bear fruit?
The owner said, “Look, this tree hasn’t produced any fruit for over three years. Why should it take up space in my vineyard; cut it down.”
Question 3. In Luke 13:8, what did the vinedresser ask to do with the barren tree?