- It's really not hard to pick out the God-given abilities that our brethren-in-the-Lord have that we do not possess in like measure. Brethren who wear their weakness on their sleeve, (instead of craftily hiding it like others of us), have greater abilities in the areas where we constantly fail if we would open our eyes to see.
(2) See that person in Christ - using His point of view:
- Read what the Lover says about the Beloved in the Song of Solomon to get this perspective. Enough said.
(3) Recognize your own helplessness to behave properly:
- Looking at yourself in the mirror of God's Word takes care of this. We tend to use what we think to be "right behavior" as a bludgeoning device on others. This leads into the next element...
(4) Abandon thoughts of trying to fix what's wrong in that person:
- Surely we've tried to fix ourselves countless times and found that it doesn't work. Why would we think we can fix somebody else?
(5) Bear the other person's burden:
- Giving time and/or treasure and/or talent and pleading with God for the benefit of the other person. "Oh that there were arbitration for a man with God, as a son of man for his friend!" Job 16:21
Looking back over the years of being a believer, we are ashamed of some of the things we used to think were okay, or just disregarded because of our selfishness. God taught us and continues to, (patiently), teach what is right and it takes us a long time to catch on. I've been a "special needs" student all of this time and show no signs of becoming brilliant yet. Why should I assume that someone else should be a better student in God's school than I? This issue, addressed by elements (3) and (4) above, seems to cause the most trouble.
These individual elements combine to form the Unconditional Love molecular structure that makes a perfect relationship with another believer. There are two caveats here: It's a two way street AND it's impossible outside of dependence on God.
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