As believers in Christ, we need to let our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near; we need to live Christ by living a life of forbearance so that all men may see Christ lived out of us and Christ magnified in us through our forbearance.
This is possible only when Christ lives in us.
Lord Jesus, live in us today! We take You as our forbearance. Be expressed through us as our forbearance today!
As we prayerfully consider the matter of Christ being our virtues, the peace of God, our secret, and the One who empowers us, as revealed in the book of Philippians, we need to realise that Christ is our everything for our daily living.
What we need is not to try harder to do this for the Lord or to perfect ourselves to have more Christian virtues; we need to be converted from anything else unto Christ.
We believers in Christ have Christ living in us, and our daily living should actually be Christ living in us and Christ being expressed through us.
This means that in all things, at all times, and in every place, we learn to turn to our spirit and contact the Lord so that He may have a way to grow in us, spread in our inner being, and be expressed through us.
He is doing a work in our inner being, and He wants to be expressed through our behaviour in our daily living.
Therefore, we just need to open to Him. We need to live a life full of forbearance and without anxiety.
Why would we be anxious when the Lord is in control? Why would we worry when the Lord takes care of us? We are like the lilies in the field who trust in the Lord and depend on Him.
We trust not in what we can do for the Lord nor in what we can produce day by day but on the Lord and on His supply. Anxiety comes from Satan, but forbearance comes from God.
Forbearance is the sum total of a life that lives Christ; Christ is our forbearance. We need to come to Christ, enjoy Christ, and live Christ.
For this, we need to open to Him from deep within so that He may reach the depths of our being and make His home deep down in our hearts.
As we allow the Lord to settle down in us and infuse us with what He is, we will become the same as He is, and He will have a way to live in us.
Amen, we can live a life full of forbearance and with no anxiety because Christ lives in us and we live Christ!
We need to Let our Forbearance be Known to All Men: Forbearance is All-inclusive, including All Christian Virtues
Philippians 4:5 tells us, Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near.
What is forbearance? How can we have forbearance? According to our Christian experience, forbearance is all-inclusive, for it includes all the Christian virtues.
Forbearance is much more than patience and kindness; forbearance is the totality of Christian virtues, even Christ living in us.
Wuest in his Word Studies, points out that the Greek word rendered “forbearance” means not only being satisfied with less than our due but also means sweet reasonableness.
Forbearance includes self-control, patience, moderation, kindness, and gentleness. When we live a life of forbearance, we exercise self-control and patience, we do and speak things in moderation and kindness, and we are gentle.
We are not like this by nature, and if we think we are, our natural kindness and gentleness with patience is not forbearance.
Forbearance is all-inclusive, including all Christian virtues; if we fail to exercise forbearance, we fail to exercise any Christian virtue. Oh Lord! We need to let our forbearance be known to all men.
For example, at home, in the married life, for a brother to be satisfied with less than his due is for him to exercise forbearance toward his life. When he does not condemn or criticise her but rather bears with her in the things of the daily life, that is Christ lived out of him as his forbearance.
In our daily living is where the rubber meets the road; in the meetings we may love the Lord and praise Him, but what about our daily living at home with our family and our living in the church life?
Do we live Christ as our forbearance in the church life and in our family life? Oh Lord!
Our forbearance includes patience, humility, self-control, looking to the Lord, and even the virtue of admitting that the Lord is sovereign in all things. If we enjoy the Lord, we will exercise forbearance.
If we enjoy Christ and live Christ, He will be our forbearance. We will be satisfied with less than what is our due.
We need to bring this matter of forbearance to the Lord and pray much over it, even open to the Lord for Him to live in us and be expressed through us as our forbearance.
Forbearance includes love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness, even a willingness to yield.
Forbearance is an all-inclusive virtue, and when we live Christ, we live a life of forbearance. Also, forbearance includes self-control, moderation, gentleness, understanding, sympathy, wisdom, mercy, peacefulness, and looking to the Lord in all things (2 Cor. 12:7-9).
All these are not in our natural being, and even if some of them seem to be in us, they need to be filled with Christ so that Christ may be our forbearance.
The way we can have love, patience, kindness, and humility is by exercising our spirit to contact the Lord and live Christ, for He is our forbearance.
May we let our forbearance be known to all men, that is, may we live Christ so that He may be lived out in us as our forbearance.
If we have forbearance as our all-inclusive virtue, we will also have righteousness and holiness.
Many times, however, we behave in an unseemly manner; this is the result of having a lack of forbearance. We may have a negative attitude and unkind words, for we are short of forbearance.
We may lack love and rather not like others and live according to our feelings, because we do not exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and live Christ as our forbearance.
Even our talkativeness may result from having no forbearance. In our family life, as we live with our spouse and children, if we don’t show forbearance toward them, we will not have peace in our family life.
We can have peace in the family life if we exercise forbearance, the all-inclusive virtue of a Christian, Christ living in us.
May we open to the Lord concerning this and allow Him to shine on this matter. May we allow the Lord to really work in our being so that, even as He lived on the earth, so we would live today.
He was content with less than His due, and He was kind, humble, loving, peaceful, considerate, and submissive.
He was willing to yield to the Father’s will and even to the unfair treatment of those around Him, not seeking His own right nor desiring to avenge. Such a One lives in us and we can live one spirit with Him to live a life of forbearance.
Lord Jesus, we want to let our forbearance be known to all men! Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You, be filled with You, and even live You out as our forbearance! Shine on us, Lord, and expose our lack of forbearance. May we allow You to be expressed through us in all things so that Christ may be our forbearance. Oh Lord, only You in us can be reasonable, considerate, and kind in dealing with others. Only when we live in our spirit, one with You, can we be easily satisfied even with less than our due. We fully open to You from within. Make Your home in our heart. Express Yourself through us. We give You our daily life with all its activities and things. Oh Lord, what about our family life? May Christ be lived in us as our forbearance in our family life today. Oh, may Christ as our forbearance be expressed through us so that we may be full of love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness. Oh Lord Jesus, we choose to be in our spirit today! We want to let our forbearance be known to all men!
Forbearance is Christ: when we Live Christ, we live a Life of Forbearance and for us to Live is Forbearance
May the Lord save us from trying to have forbearance apart from Christ; yes, we need to let our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near, but we can’t live a life of forbearance apart from living Christ.
Christ is forbearance and forbearance is Christ. It is only Christ who can live a life of forbearance.
Paul said, To me to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21), and earlier he said that he expected in nothing to be put to shame but that Christ would be magnified through his body, whether through life or through death (v. 20).
To live Christ is to live a life of forbearance. Forbearance is an all-inclusive virtue, and we need to let our forbearance be known to all men by living Christ.
Since to us to live is Christ, and Christ is forbearance, for us to live is forbearance, for Christ is living in us and expressing Himself through us as forbearance.
For us to magnify Christ is for us to live a life of forbearance. For Christ to be magnified in us is equal to making our forbearance be known to all men.
It may be easy for us to talk about living Christ, but when it comes to our daily living, to live Christ is to live a life of forbearance. Forbearance is the key to being a good husband or wife.
Forbearance is much more than gentleness or humility; forbearance is to live Christ, for Christ is forbearance. A forbearing person is one who always fits in, one whose behaviour is always suitable (2 Cor. 6:1; 10:1; Phil. 1:19; Isa. 11:2).
The apostles worked together with God by a life that is all-fitting, a life that can fit in all situations and meet any kind of environment, bear any kind of treatment, and withstand any kind of persecution or attack.
The life we have in us, Christ as our life, is an all-fitting life; when we live by the divine life, we live a life of forbearance.
Others will not be a problem to us. The way they treat us will not impact us, and when we are mistreated or even persecuted will not bother us, for we live out Christ as our forbearance.
However, when we don’t exercise our spirit and do not live a life of forbearance, we have many failures and defeats. Because we’re short of Christ living out of us as our forbearance, we have failures and we experience defeat.
It is easy to neglect forbearance, but when we live Christ, He becomes our forbearance.
He in us is satisfied with less than we are due. He in us will not make exacting demands on others according to righteousness but rather will be content in all things.
This is how the Lord Jesus lived when He was on the earth. He was strict to Himself but not with others. He prayed much, but He did not demand this from others, nor did He criticise others when they didn’t pray enough.
He was in constant fellowship with the Father, but He did not make demands on His disciples concerning prayer or fellowship with the Father. Oh Lord!
We need to let our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near. He is near to us not only in His physical presence but all day, He is near and dear to us.
The Lord is within us; He is always with us, therefore we should let Him live in us and be expressed through us as our forbearance.
Because the Lord is near, we need to let our forbearance be known to all men. Because the Lord is near, we have no excuse for not making our forbearance known.
May we never forget that the Lord is near to us; He is in our mouth and in our heart, and we can call on His name to be filled with Him and remain in His presence (Rom. 10:8-13).
The Lord is near; He is within us, right in our spirit, and when we turn to Him and enjoy Him, He has a way to be expressed through us as our forbearance.
However, many times we don’t realise that the Lord is near, so we don’t exercise forbearance. Oh Lord!
May we live in the Lord’s presence today, enjoying His sweet presence in His indwelling, and may we live Christ so that our forbearance be known to all men!
Lord Jesus, we take You as our forbearance today. We want to live Christ. Oh Lord, for us to live is Christ, and Christ is our forbearance! Live in us today. Be expressed through us. Thank You for being near to us. Oh, You are so near and so dear to us. We love You and we open to You! We come to You and we take You as our life and person. Be our forbearance today. We want to live Christ by living a life of forbearance. Oh Lord, we want to live in Your presence today so that we may live one spirit with You. Only You in us can be satisfied with our current situation and environment. Only You in us will not make exacting demands on others. Oh Lord, only Your all-fitting life can live the Christian life. We open to You. We allow You to live in us. We want to let our forbearance be known to all men. Amen, Lord, we love Your presence! We love Your indwelling. Keep reminding us that You are near so that we may live one spirit with You and live a life of forbearance!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brother Ed Marks in this conference, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msg. 56, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Enjoying, Experiencing, and Expressing Christ (part 3 – 2025 Summer Training), week 25, Christ as Our Virtues, the Peace of God, Our Secret, and the One Who Empowers Us – day 2.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Video 4: A Life Full of Forbearance but without Anxiety (4), via, LSM YouTube.
– To let our forbearance be known is really to let Christ be known. More via, instagram.
– Taking Christ as our forbearance, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
– New Jerusalem Comes from Divine Riches and is Without Human Poverty, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– A life full of forbearance but without anxiety (2), a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 57.
– Philippians (Program #28) – Excellent Characteristics of the Christian Life (2), via, Bible study radio.
– A life full of forbearance but without anxiety (1), a portion from, Life-Study of Philippians, Chapter 56.
– Magnifying Christ in the Midst of Turmoil, via, Shepherding Words.
– Christ Is the Reality of the Good Land for Us to Enjoy, via, Bibles for America blog.
– Choosing Christ in the Morning || Message 2 – F25 Solid Ground. - Hymns on this topic:
– In spirit while gazing on Thee, / As a glass reflecting Thy glory, / Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be, / That Thou might be expressed thru me. / In no other way could we be / Sanctified and share Thy vict’ry; / Thus only spiritual we’ll be / And touch the life of glory. (Hymns #501 stanzas 5-6)
– Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son. (Hymns #403 stanza 1)
– Not I, but Christ be honored, loved, exalted, / Not I, but Christ be seen, be known and heard; / Not I, but Christ in every look and action, / Not I, but Christ in every thought and word. / Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord, / Oh, to be lost in Thee, / Oh, that it may be no more I, / But Christ that lives in me. (Hymns #591 stanza 1 and chorus)
About aGodMan
Life-study of Philippians, pp. 479-480, by Witness Lee
We need to let our forbearance be known to all men, for the Lord is near.
Forbearance is an all-inclusive virtue, including all the virtues of Christ being expressed through us.
In ourselves we lack forbearance, but the Lord is near, He lives in us, and He is our forbearance.
For us to live Christ is for us to live a life of forbearance.
If we have forbearance, then in our experience, we truly have Christ.
Day by day we need forbearance and to be satisfied with less than our due with sweet reasonableness.
Amen. Peace comes out of forbearance.
For us to magnify Christ and all His virtues we need to make known our forbearance.
To have such forbearance we must be satisfied with less than our due.
Amen. To live is forbearance.
Whatever way a Christian has is simply the Lord Himself. The Lord said, “I am the way.” He is our way and He is our method. Our fear should be that we would depend on ourselves, on others, or on methods and thus break our fellowship with the Lord. The Lord Himself is the way for us to face difficulties.
Two words: Way, Method
Method: using Christ to do something, or to apply Christ in something
Way: living Christ as the path, the goal, and everything in between.
When we deal with anxiety, I don’t want to use Christ like a medicine, I want to be in him, walk with him and live him.
Col 2:6 says to ‘walk in him’, not to walk using him.
Wow brother! Forebearance is all the virtues.
Only the ministry is able to enlighten us to this extent.
However, we must not forget that forbearance is actually Christ Himself.
How enlightening to see that for Christ to be magnified is equal to making our forbearance known.
When we have forbearance, then we truly have Jesus.
We should be satisfied with less than our due.
The key to displaying forbearance is the realisation that the Lord is always near. He’s within us. Wow!
There is so much more to Paul’s statement in Phil 4:5.
For me to live is forbearance!
Forbearance is all-inclusive, for it includes all Christian virtues; forbearance is actually the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit with His bountiful supply experienced by us in a practical way. We may speak of living Christ and testify that for us, to live is Christ.
However, day by day in our life at home, what we need is forbearance. If we have forbearance, then in our experience, we truly have Christ.
But our failures and defeats in the Christian life come because we are short of forbearance, we are short of Christ.
And often we fail to exercise forbearance because we forget that the Lord is near. We do not even remember that He is actually within us.
Because we do not realise that the Lord is near, we do not exercise forbearance.
Amen.
Let your forbearance be known to all men.
Forbearance is not just being able to accept less than we are due. Forbearance is self-control, patience, moderation, kindness, and gentleness.
Furthermore, according to Christian experience, forbearance is an all-inclusive virtue. The reason why we fail in our Christian life and lose our patience in our family life is due to a shortage of forbearance.
May we realise that the real forbearance. It is Christ!
In Philippians 4:6 the Apostle Paul mentions that Christ is Christ. The more we experience, enjoy Christ in our daily life the more we will express Christ as forbearance, making our forbearance known to men.
To be forbearing is to have “sweet reasonableness”, considerateness in dealing with others, in the family life and Christian life is to live Christ.
Forbearance is the sum total of Christian virtues and is the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit to be our bountiful supply for His magnification in our daily life.
Because the Lord is near us He is available and ready to help us at any time to be the forbearing one in us.
However, because in our experience we even forget He is in us we fail to exercise forbearance with others, even with our wives.
Listen to the audio version of this article here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4G9UrJATjHASHamPgdJxB8?si=2KFgTa43Sv26t8pgUPniIA
https://youtu.be/b0YBn6b9slo
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Phil. 4:5 footnote 2 on, forbearance, RcV Bible
To live gently is not a weakness. It is the courage to eat without killing, to love without lust, and to see every breath as sacred.
– Blessed are the MERCIFUL, for they will be shown mercy.
– Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they will be called children of God.
– Blessed are the MEEK, for they will inherit the earth.
– Blessed are the PURE IN HEART, for they will see God.