Mike Criswell
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, LONGSUFFERING, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23
Maybe it’s because I was teethed on the old King James Version, but when I hear the word “longsuffering,” I immediately think of 1 Corinthians 13 where the apostle says, “Love suffers long, and is kind.”
If anyone knew what this meant, it was Paul. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul gives us a living, breathing, sample of what “longsuffering” actually looks like. Get a load of this! In contrasting himself to the false apostles that constantly dogged him, Paul says, “Are they servants of Christ? … I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, … of death. Five times the Jews gave me forty lashes (minus one). Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I was afloat in the ocean; In frequent travels, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from outlaws, in dangers from my countrymen … in dangers among false brothers … frequently going without food and drink, cold and in need of clothing,” 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. And that’s not to mention the daily stress of caring for the churches.
You talk about stress! Likely none of us go through this kind of stress today. Paul was amazing. So how in the world did he do it?
To understand how Paul made it through these kinds of perils, it may be helpful to understand a bit about the words Paul uses. In Greek, “longsuffering” carries the idea of patience, fortitude, or bearing up under adversity. In other words, the person who is “longsuffering” is the person who decides to suffer for as long as it takes to get the job done. It’s a mental/spiritual quality as much as physical. It’s a tenacity of the soul.
This even applies to our relationships with others. In Ephesians 4 Paul opens his thoughts on “Christian Unity” by saying, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (vs 1-2). Did you catch that? Look again. It’s beautiful. Paul says that to walk the Christian life we must be patient, or longsuffering, and show tolerance for one another in love. That’s huge!
I admit that many times I have a lot more tolerance for adverse situations than I do for adverse people. I guess I just expect others to straighten up and fly right because they know better. But that’s not how it works. Christians are patient with each other. They forgive each other. They help each other overcome problems. If someone does something wrong, we don’t write them off. We suffer long! If someone offends us, we don’t fly off the handle. We suffer long! If things don’t go our way in the church, we patiently try to work things out with other’s best interests in mind.
Obviously, the paramount example of “longsuffering” is that which God bestows on us. Peter reminds us, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is LONGSUFFERING (patient) toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9.
As we build God-like characteristics, let us be patient with others and with ourselves too. Sometimes, it is “us” that we have the hardest time being patient with! To be longsuffering takes time. After all the word “long” is in the word. Don’t think much of anything changes overnight.
As Christians, we need to slow down, take a deep breath, and trust in the Lord. He’s got this! Remember, no matter how rough it gets, we’re in this for the long haul.
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