NASHVILLE (BP) – This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, Lifeway publishes Sunday School curricula and additional resources for all age groups.
This week’s Bible study is adapted from the MasterWork curriculum.
Bible Passages: Colossians 3:12-14
Discussion Questions:
- If we don’t see ourselves as sinners and totally unworthy of God’s mercy, how might we treat others?
- What is the difference between gratitude and thankfulness?
- What grade would you give yourself in forbearance? Who has shown you great patience, either now or in the past? How can that example encourage you to have more patience?
Food for thought:
Having experienced God’s grace, we are then called on to extend that grace to others. The evidence of whether we are living by His grace is to be found in the way we treat other people. If we see ourselves as sinners and totally unworthy in ourselves of God’s compassion, patience and forgiveness, then we will want to be gracious to others. Paul listed eight different character traits in Colossians 3:12-14 with which we are to clothe ourselves. This lesson focuses on three character traits related to grace: gratitude, forbearance and forgiveness.
Gratitude: The very first character trait that should flow out of experiencing God’s grace is gratitude to Him. Everything we are and everything we do that is of any value, we owe to the grace of God. This of course, begins with our salvation.
Forbearance: Forbearance is no longer a common word in most vocabularies. We tend to use the word patience in its place, as in “please be patient with me.” Forbearance literally means “to put up with” and is translated that way several places in the New Testament. In Ephesians 4:2, Paul urges us to “[bear] with one another in love.” The basis for our patience with one another is love. But where do we get such love? John answers this in 1 John 4:19: “We love because He first loved us.”
Forgiveness: Paul said we are to go beyond being patient with one another; we are also to forgive each other. Forgiveness differs from forbearance in that it has to do with real wrongs committed against us. Forbearance should be our response to unintentional actions due to the faults or carelessness of another. As believers, we not only offend our fellow believers unwittingly through our faults and failures, but we sometimes offend deliberately. We need forgiveness not only from God but from one another. And we need to forgive one another as God forgave us.
Masterwork
MasterWork is an ongoing Bible study curriculum based on works from a variety of renowned authors and offers pertinent, practical messages that adults will find uplifting and enriching. The list of authors and their books to be studied in upcoming months can be found at Lifeway.com/masterwork
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