FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT—LONG-SUFFERING
In this generation, tolerance of those who cause you harm is considered weak, and patiently enduring hardships at the hands of loved ones or strangers is viewed as passive. Maintaining closeness with people who add value to your life while cutting off those who fall short is seen as a sign of strength and self-love. However, if God only valued those who served Him, counted offenses, set boundaries based on our behaviors, or was easily angered, we wouldn’t be able to know Him. We wouldn’t experience His love or have the opportunity to be transformed by it because He would be “putting Himself first” or “doing what was right for Him.”
In the darkest moments of my relationship with Christ, when I spat in His face and made a mockery of what He did for me on the cross, He stayed. He endured. He loved. He patiently waited for me. Long-suffering, patiently enduring, and allowing my heart to be renewed each day mirrors the heart of Christ. His mercies are new each morning. His compassion for you, for me, for us, is new each morning.
What does this mean about our character? We have a propensity for mistakes, an inclination to disobey, and a tendency to choose our own way over His during our walk with Him. What does this mean about Christ’s character? He knows the depths of our brokenness, all the ways we will injure and disregard Him, and He still provides fresh compassion and fresh mercy each day.
The long-suffering nature of Christ is not something to be abused but to be modeled in our own hearts and lives.
Long-suffering is derived from the Greek word makrothumia, which literally means “long of mind or soul.” In some translations, forbearance, temperance, or patience is used instead, but no matter the translation, length of mind and soul can only be granted in our relationship with Christ.
Philippians 2:3-8 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.”
Selfish ambition, vain conceit, and looking to your own interests can also be self-preservation, pride, or ego.
Valuing the interests of others above yourself doesn’t always feel good. Sometimes that means remaining silent, pursuing without reward, and enduring another person’s brokenness. We are not called to do easy, feel-good things. We are called to do Jesus things.
Never forget, Jesus could have smited us all to hell 10,000 times over, but He didn’t. He didn’t consider His power, His freedom, or His right as God to give us and show us what we deserve. Instead, He died literally and to Himself.
1 John 4:7-8 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
If the people we encounter don’t know how to love, it is an indicator that they don’t know Jesus.
Who are we called to make disciples of? People who don’t know Jesus.
People who don’t love well don’t belong in the trash. They belong at the feet of Jesus.
Where can people who don’t know Him at all experience Jesus? Christians.
Matthew 28:18-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
What are we all supposed to be doing until the return of Christ? Making disciples and teaching them to observe ALL things that He has commanded.
And what has He commanded?
Matthew 22:37 says, “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.”
What can unbelievers observe about Christians that will draw them to Christ? The way we love God with our entire heart, soul, and mind.
How will they see this love displayed? Through our actions.
The commandment that is second to loving God is loving your neighbor. Not loving yourself, not only loving people who are good to you, not only loving those who are easy. Your neighbor.
By biblical definition neighbor means: any other person irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet.
It is important. It is significant. It is imperative that we love. It is how people can see God in real time. It is how you and I were plucked out of darkness.
Long-suffering is a fruit we are graced to bear through our relationship with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Make no mistake, trying to love others in your own power and strength, with wrong motives or sources, will leave you feeling empty, used, and torn down. We have an infinite amount of love, grace, mercy, patience, and kindness in our relationship with Christ. In order to love well, you must know God well. In order to love well, you must commune with God daily. In order to answer people with the grace and mercy of the Father, you have to be in a relationship with Him. He is the only person who hasn’t grown tired or exhausted from the weight of loving people. If you are grieved in love, in your long-suffering, in your relationships with others, remember the endless grace and mercy God afforded you. Remember the way He relentlessly loved you. Any disrespect we experience, any wrongdoing we endure, is a crumb in comparison to what we have done and consistently do to Christ daily. Long-suffering, loving others, and extending grace to others is a call to believers from Jesus. Any call unanswered or willingly ignored is an act of disobedience.
