Everyone desires to have someone to love them, someone that treats them with respect, and someone who is patient with them. Patience or long-suffering is one way someone can show us they love us. But what does this look consist of? In I Corinthians chapter 13, there are several attributes of what real love entails. It is a good measuring tool to use to examine our love for others.
I Corinthians 13:4 “Charity (love) suffers long”
Today, we will examine what long-suffering for the sake of love looks like. Someone who loves this way will endure a lot of things the average person would use as a reason to end the relationship. This person keeps on loving and is not easily provoked to anger or retaliation. This person allows love to control their actions and words. They do not strike out quickly when they are hurt. A person who is long-suffering gives people space to allow God to work in their hearts to convince them of their wrong. They do not quickly withhold good things from the one they love because they are hurt or angry. When our first reaction is to allow our anger to express itself, we are opening ourselves up to allowing the devil to use us. Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 4:26 that we can be angry and not sin. We can be long-suffering when love rules.
Ephesians 4:26-27 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.”
Ephesians 4:2 “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”
God is the perfect example of long-suffering. In Romans 2:4, God is long-suffering with a design for his love to bring people to repentance. It doesn’t mean he brushes the sin to the side, or that there will not be consequences. God is a just God and sin will be punished, but His desire is that we come to Him, repent, and seek to live for Him. Some may think that because God does not punish them quickly for their sins, that he isn’t going to. That is a dangerous assumption! God in His love is long-suffering because He wants no one to perish in Hell. For the Christian, he is long-suffering, but there will still be consequences for sin.
Romans 2:4 “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”
II Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The person who is long-suffering in their love has made a conscious decision to be that way. It is not something that comes naturally. This person has made up their mind that they will honor God in all their ways, and their love for God has power over their actions. Long-suffering is one attribute of the fruit of the Spirit. If we are saved, we all have the fruit of the spirit, but we must determine to allow it to work in our lives. Just like an oak tree has many parts, acorns, leaves, branches, and the trunk, it must have soil, water, and fertilizer for all components to grow and function. If we are to have the fruit of long-suffering exhibited in our lives, we must feed it on the word and prayer.
Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,”
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