Forbearance

On Wednesday afternoon I was walking up Hanover Street. My neighbours, Connie and Jimmy, were out shopping and spotted me. They said ‘are you still having problems with your leg?’  I replied ‘from time to time’ and Jimmy asked me what I was taking for it?  I replied ‘forbearance’.  It was an odd word to use, so I looked it up in the dictionary when I got home. 

The word is hardly ever used today. However, if you search the Internet you'll find many references to forbearance being used with regard to student debt in America. Student loan forbearance is an authorized temporary suspension of repayment that is granted under certain circumstances. I.e. if you are committed to repaying your student loans, but are unable to make payments because of a temporary financial strain, your lender may agree to grant a forbearance, during which payments on your student loan account are postponed.

Now the unforgiving debtor (Mat 18:21-35) in the story that Libby read expected this kind of forbearance. Yet his debt was completely cancelled. When he failed to show forbearance to another servant, he received a devastating judgement.

You may think that this is a special case because the man was so wicked. Yet Jesus’ teaching is always universal, there are no special cases. So what is the universal teaching in this case? Today it is common to focus on forgiveness and ignore judgement; yet the teaching shows that forgiveness and judgement cannot be separated. I hope to show that attempts to separate them are both ignorant and selfish.

A woman discovers that her husband is having an affair with another woman. Even if she forgives him, she will continue to evaluate and assess the future with her husband. Her judgement will continue to focus on him to make sure he does not do it again.

This is why God’s judgement is tied to forgiveness. We are not judged on past events that have been forgiven. We are judged on future events. It has to be so; otherwise we will take advantage of forgiveness and make no effort to change.

So why do modern Christians dislike the word judgement. Part of the reason is on account of the Christians who have frightened children by distorting God’s judgement. Their version seems cold and contrary to unconditional love.

Perhaps it is easier to understand the purpose and preciseness of God’s judgement by looking at unconditional love with judgement absent.

Libby’s second reading was from Colossians. ‘You should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience’. This is a description of the behaviour God expects of us in his Kingdom. Imagine the effect of an arrogant bully, or someone who steals or causes conflict on such a community. But if God has no purpose and only unconditional love, anyone can be admitted into God’s kingdom.

But if God’s judgement is precise and we fail to live up to the standards of God’s righteousness, can anyone enter his kingdom? This is an ‘eye of the needle’ question which Jesus has already answered, when he says it is impossible for us to achieve salvation on our own. It comes from God alone.

Forbearance has another definition:  the act of forbearing or waiting; the exercise of patience.  This was the sense that I used when speaking to my neighbours. For a Christian, who experiences suffering, patience come through the grace which the Holy Spirit implants in the soul.

In Romans 15.5 Paul says ‘May the God who gives comfort and strength in waiting make you of the same mind with one another in harmony with Christ Jesus’ This is an exhortation to the Kingdom. Being of the same mind with one another in harmony with Christ is the Kingdom.

Patience is a Godly attribute. What is the Patience of God? It is the power of God over Himself. But for the infinite restraint God puts upon Himself, this problematic world could not exist a moment. Mercy withholds judgment, goodness restrains justice, patience curbs power, and thus the patience of God is the salvation of man.

The patience of God allows us time to change and God knows how much we need that time. Yet Jesus clearly understands that forgiveness without judgement is a poor agent for change. He himself is our agent for change. Ask him to help you. Cooperate and never stop asking, so that we may live for ever, in harmony with one another.

Judgement slumbers, but forbearance is awake, for God with infinite patience waits for us to change so that he can welcome us home, rather than lose us.