One of the hardest parts of being a Christian is getting along with other Christians.  When we are born again into God’s family, we are babies.  We have to grow.  And some of us grow very slowly.  There is much immaturity among the people and the leaders in the best of churches   And some churches  are notorious for the inability of the people to live in peace.

    Some poet said,  “To dwell in love with saints above will be a wondrous glory.
                To walk below with saints we know, - now that’s a different story!”
                                               and I think he’s right. 

    We have a difficult time getting along with one another.  Differences of opinion, perceptions of unfair or unjust treatment, unkind words, and many more things often turn a church into a battleground where the people choose up sides and fight.

    Paul was thinking of such a problem when he said, “if any man have a quarrel against any.”  He did not ignore the problem, he recognized it and addressed it.  Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.  It makes it worse.  When we recognize we have a problem like this, we can learn from what Paul told the Colossians to do - forbear and forgive.

    What does “forbearing one another” mean?  One translation puts it this way:  “You must make allowance for each other’s faults” (NLT).  Most other translations tend to agree with this view.  It is certainly a step in the right direction.  But I think it doesn’t take into account how strongly some may feel about the situation.  Otherwise peaceable people can become violent when emotions run high.  I like the way A.T. Robertson translates this:  “holding yourselves back from one another.”  In other words, we are not to attack one another, physically or verbally.

    But even if we make allowance for each other’s faults and hold ourselves back from one another, we have not solved the problem.  Making allowance and holding back doesn’t change our hearts.  We need to do something more.  We need to forgive.

    Forbearing is hard enough.  Forgiveness is harder than that.  How can we possibly forgive the bad things that have been said and done?  But Paul said we are to forgive because we have been forgiven.  And we can do that, because when we were forgiven the One who forgave us came to live in our hearts.  What we can’t do, He can and will - if we will let Him live His life in our bodies.

    The whole thing comes down to choice.  We must choose to make allowance for the faults of others.  We must choose to hold ourselves back from one another.  We must choose to forgive those who have wronged us.  And we are to forgive as Christ forgave us - freely and fully, when we didn’t deserve it.  Only then will there be peace in our hearts, whether others find peace or not.