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God's Word: Can You Put Up With It?

By Steve Klein

Have you ever had a boss, or a teacher or a parent who got under your skin by constantly pointing out your faults, correcting you, and demanding that you do better?  If so, you may have found the situation very hard to put up with, especially if you were not personally motivated to perform well in your role as employee, student or child.  Most of us have a hard time putting up with correction and criticism unless we have a deep desire to improve.

 It takes a little courage and determination to continue to look into the mirror every morning and see the numerous aspects of our appearance that need attention.  It would be easier to forego this morning ritual and just go about the day "as is." (From the looks of things, I think that this must actually be the approach that a few young people in our society are taking.) Even so, it takes some determination to continue looking into the word of God and allowing it to criticize and correct us. Like a mirror, the word of God reflects back to us images of our imperfections (James 1:23-25).  It is critical of us and it demands improvement.  But unless we want to improve, we won't put up with it for long -- we will either stop looking into it, or we will purposely put out of our minds the glaring faults it reveals.

In Hebrews 13:22 the inspired writer appeals to brethren to "bear with the word of exhortation."  The phrase "bear with" is translated from a Greek word that means to "put up with...endure, forbear, suffer" (Strong's Dictionary).

Is there a Bible passage that causes you to cringe every time the preacher refers to it?  Is there a verse that you don't like to think about because when you do it makes you feel    guilty or uncomfortable?  Are there parts of God's word that you have a hard time putting up with?   If so, you have three choices: You can stop looking, you can choose to forget what you see, or you can decide that you want to improve yourself and become fit for the kingdom of heaven. 

  Other Articles by Steve Klein
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