Forbearance

The ladies at our church have been working through a book by Nancy Leigh DeMosss, Forgiveness.

I've listed the chapter titles below; however one passage in particular about forbearance captured my attention.

1 - Walking Wounded
2 - What Happens When We Refuse
3 - The Promise of Forgiveness
4 - Forgiving for Jesus' Sake
5 - The Art of Forgiveness
6 - Angry at God
7 - What True Forgiveness Is - and Isn't
8 - Returning a Blessing

I have mulled this word over, looked it up, 'rolled it around on my tongue,' prayed about it, thought about it...and come to the conclusion that I really don't exhibit forbearance to others.

Forbear - Translated such 22 times in 22 verses - in the Old Testament:

H2308 - A primitive root; properly to be flabby, that is, (by implication) desist; (figuratively) be lacking or idle.

H4900 - A primitive root; to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.).

H2820 - A prim root; to restrain or (reflexively) refrain; by implication to refuse, spare, preserve; also (by interchange with H2821) to observe.

H1826 - A primitive root (compare H1724, H1820); to be dumb; by implication to be astonished, to stop; also to perish.

In the New Testament:

G5339 - Of uncertain affinity; to be chary of, that is, (subjectively) to abstain or (objectively) to treat leniently. Also translated spare...as in:

Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 

G4722 - From G4721; to roof over, that is, (figuratively) to cover with silence (endure patiently).  Bears...as in:

1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

The Hebrew words are interesting...flabby, idle.  I like the 'roof over' from G4722, cover with silence, endure patiently.

From Revive Our Hearts:  Here's the issue:

"You see, the danger is that we have expectations in relationships. We think we deserve more. We are worthy of more. People ought to treat us more nicely, especially within our homes, our family relationships. And when those expectations are unfulfilled, what happens?

Anger. Resentment. Sometimes it starts as just smoldering hurt. But those embers get stirred up and ultimately became a flame of bitterness and anger."

So how often do we give ourselves a 'pass', but don't extend the same level of compassion, care, understanding to someone else, especially if that person has hurt us (deliberately or not)?  How many times do we take offense and attribute the painful words/actions as being deliberate?

This isn't excusing abuse, and there is a difference, we all say thoughtless words, thoughtlessly do (or not do) things.

So beloved saints, how forbearing are we of one another's sins...considering how we sinned against a sinless savior?