The Virtue of Being Longsuffering
- Elijah McSwain
- Feb 9, 2024
- 13 min read
Updated: Feb 11, 2024
2/7/2024
Elijah McSwain, Sr.
Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The idea of being longsuffering or demonstrating patient is something that is not common or ideal among the majority of humanity. By nature, we are not creatures who like to be patient or deal with certain matters for a long period of time. Patience is not often our strong suit. Our nerves over time begin to unravel, our blood begins to boil, and our temperature begins to rise when things or people in life cause us to be unnerved or irritated due to unpleasant situations that unfold before us. The unpleasantries of life can cause us to lose our composure. Once we lose our composure, irritability sets in, and our patience goes out the window. In the moments where we become unnerved and hasty, it leads to irrational thoughts, quick judgments, improper decisions, ruined relationships and friendships, and disaster.
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “one moment of patience may ward off a great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” Judging the right time to say or do something in your life can have an impact. 1
Exhibiting patience helps us to make wise choices and avoid catastrophic situations. Galatians 5:22, presents the reality that believers are to be longsuffering as a result of the fruit of the Spirit which is reflective of the nature of God. As we closely examine the topic, The Virtue of Being Longsuffering, let us consider that God is longsuffering and every believer should be longsuffering.
God Is Longsuffering
Galatians 5:22-23 is written that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and several other virtues that describe the nature of God. The word longsuffering reveals that God shows restraint from executing His righteous anger and wrath against sin and iniquity.
God does not immediately execute punishment on offenders of His law. He forbears in His punishment because He is longsuffering, patient, and willing to grant a frail human populace an opportunity to experience His saving grace in a manner to be delivered from sin and wrongdoing.
When mankind fell from grace in the Garden of Eden, God promised that He would send His promised Seed to atone for the sins of the world. According to 2 Peter 3:9, it informs us that "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." God abstains from enforcing His pronounced judgment for wickedness in order that humanity may repent of our vile ways in light of the sacrificial offering given on behalf of the world to set us free from sin.
In our state of sinfulness as sinners, we mistreated God, we willingly participated in vile passions, we engaged in acts that were despicable and distasteful, we knowingly ignored the commands of God, we did what we considered to be right in our own eyes, we rebelled against His desire for our lives, and we pursued every sin imaginable; yet God in His fortitude displayed a temperament to not invoke our sudden demise of eternal damnation upon us in an everlasting hell with no hope of repentance unto deliverance. He does not leave us helpless to die in a hopeless condition.
God choose to delay in His retribution for our criminality of rebelling against Him by not treating us as our sins deserve. Psalm 103:8-13 paints this reality that "the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him." The Lord elects to withhold from us the due punishment that rightfully should have been charged on our account. However, by His gracious nature we are shown mercy in spite of His holy prerogative to let us taste spiritual and eternal death.
The Holman KJV Study Bible states that “while God's holiness demands payment for sin, God's mercy and compassion restrain His discipline.” 2
Joel 2:13 captures this sentiment best by the declaration “so rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” Williams McDonald speaks of God’s mercy rejoicing against judgment. If we received what we deserve to receive, we would be in hell forever. But God’s mercy is demonstrated in that He does not give us what we deserve. The penalty of our sins was paid by Another at the cross of Calvary. When we trust the Savior, God can righteously pardon us. 3 God's mercy and grace are extensions of His love as seen through Calvary. Calvary is the reality of our liberation from sin, our rescue from the damnation of everlasting torment, rescue from God’s impending wrath against sin, and a demonstration of His longsuffering so that mankind could become godly sorrowful for sin and be released from the grip of Satan.
Scripture further reveals the long-tempered nature of God throughout the storyline of history. Many biblical passages indicate the longsuffering communicable attribute of God. In Genesis 6:1-22, Noah lived in a society that was corrupt and filled with violence. The Lord regretted that He made mankind. However, in His displeasure with inhabitants of the world during Noah’s day He was longsuffering by giving ample warning to the people to repent. The timeframe that God gave the people to repent was in alignment with the time that He allowed Noah to build the ark before the flood came. This timeframe consisted of one hundred and twenty years. It is important to note, just because God is longsuffering, it does not mean that we have a license to engage in sin. This type of mindset undermines His nature and His transaction at the cross.
God gave those who were immoral in the days of Noah one hundred twenty years to confess and forsake their sin. Thus, this emphasizes that God has a set limit of how long He is tolerable with withholding His pronounced judgment and punishment for sin.
The MacArthur Study Bible refers to the one hundred and twenty years as “the span of time until the Flood (cf. 1 Pet. 3:20), in which man was given opportunity to respond to the warning that God’s Spirit would not always be patient.” 4
Another exhibition of God’s longsuffering can be seen in the history line of Israel. Countless of times, God showed His patience with Israel’s complaining, rebellion and constant pursuit of false gods. The Exodus from Egypt captured the newly delivered people of God complaining and rebelling against Moses, Aaron and ultimately the Lord for their displeasure of having to deal with the conditions of the wilderness. Exodus 16:3 asserts that "and the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” They were an ungrateful people, yet God was longsuffering with them and provided them with bread and meat. Yet, their complaining continued in regard to various other things up until a certain point where God’s patience was tested on ten different occasions. Numbers 14:22-23 reveals this truth as it is written “because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, “they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it."
The key takeaway consists of humanity not taking the longsuffering temperament and patience of God for granted.
Judges 2:11-17 gives us another historical account of the Israelites’ behavior. "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So, He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so."
These accounts and more point to the patience of God against those who are defiant, rebellious, stubborn, and hard hearted. Exodus 34:6-7a is written to show forth this communicable attribute of God. “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, “keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Romans 9:22-23 (ERV) further helps us to understand the longevity of God with sinful men. “It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show His anger and to let people see His power. But He patiently endured those He was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed. He waited with patience so that He could make known the riches of His glory to the people He has chosen to receive His mercy. God has already prepared them to share His glory.”
God is the exemplification and personification of being longsuffering because it is part of His character. Thank God for being longsuffering with us as human beings.
Believers Should Be Longsuffering
Galatians 5:22 connotes that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and a variety of other virtues.
Every Christian should be longsuffering just as God is longsuffering. By no means will our stance of being longsuffering measure up to God but this is no excuse for followers of God and Christ to fail in this area of our Christian discipleship.
If we are genuinely saved, then the fruit of the Spirit will enable us to be longsuffering.
Jerry Bridges voiced “the fruit of patience in all its aspects – long-suffering, forbearance, endurance, and perseverance – is a fruit that is most intimately associated with our devotion to God. All character traits of godliness grow out of and have their foundation in our devotion to God, but the fruit of patience must grow out of that relationship in a particular way.” 5
The longsuffering of believers is born out of our dependency upon God as we are faced with daunting moments, trials, uncomfortable interactions with others, hardships, difficulties, and troublesome circumstances. God has a certain formula that helps to shape our character for being able to project the virtue of being longsuffering. Our ability to endure and stand the test of time displays a sense of patience and longsuffering during distress and painful times.
In his book, The Character of Christ, Jonathan Landry Cruse wrote “spiritual patience depends upon a love and trust in the providence of God. Hence a’ Brakel defines patience as the believer’s spiritual strength which he has in God, whereby, he in the performance of his duty, willingly, with composure, joyfully, and steadfastly endures all the vicissitudes of life.” 6
The Spirit of God empowers us to endure the problematic issues of life. His Spirit helps us to demonstrate being longsuffering. The expectation is that we are to exhibit patience in our trials. For James 1:2-4 lets us know to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
As believers, we are not able to calculate how we will react to certain situations until we are undergoing pressure. It is easy to make the claim that we will react this way or that way when we are not actually faced with a trial but are only on the outside looking in on someone else's situation. However, that claim is not always true because the pressures of life will reveal our true character in any given situation. Through tests our character is shaped and molded. Prayerfully, we will yield to the lead of the Holy Spirit so that the virtue of being longsuffering under distress will be visible.
God desires that the virtue of longsuffering be our guiding principle as we operate under the authority of the Holy Spirit as opposed to following our own tainted logic when trouble arises. The pursuit of following our own logic typically leads to dysfunctionality and chaos when God’s Spirit is left out of the equation. We must realize that the tests of life are for character building and not for our level of comfort. God uses our trials to help us to grow spiritually. The Life Application Study Bible verbalized it this way, “God wants to develop us into complete human beings, not simply insulate us from all pain. Enduring through trials generates a whole person—seasoned, experienced, well developed, and fully trained. It gives us the life skills to see our blind spots and anticipate mistakes before we make them. Instead of complaining about our struggles, we should see them as opportunities for growth. Ask God for wisdom to help you solve your problems or to give you the strength to endure them. Then be patient. God will not leave you alone with your problems; He will stay close and help you grow.” 7
The uncertainties of life that we are faced with will either break us or develop us spiritually. However, such a development or the lack thereof depends upon our response and dependency upon God to manifest the characteristic of being longsuffering within the frame of our lives. Are we trusting God to preserve us and to safeguard our mindset when the inevitable things of suffering as well as affliction come upon us? Are we able to endure critical moments in life by allowing the Holy Spirit to grant us to be longsuffering? If not, God expects us to act in accordance to the lead of the Holy Spirit.
John MacArthur writes that “through tests, a Christian will learn to withstand tenaciously the pressure of a trial until God removes it at His appointed time and even cherish the benefit.” 4
There is another expectation found in Scripture that we are to exhibit regarding us being longsuffering with one another. We live in a world where people do malicious things to us, allow harmful things to come from their mouth to tarnish our character, treat us with indifference and disrespect, marginalize us, oppress us, exclude us, belittle us, and much more. However, our attitude should never be one of retaliation but one of love, longsuffering, forbearance and patience.
The notion of being longsuffering is to never seek revenge when a person falls victim to the mistreatment of others. Longsuffering requires the followers of God to model the mindset of Christ and to show compassion to those who commit offenses against us. By human nature, we naturally desire to get even with others by leveling the playing field of giving an eye for an eye. However, God expects every Christian to operate from a vertical plain, a heavenly mindset, to handle matters God’s way as opposed to handling confrontations with others from a horizontal plain, an earthly mindset.
By patterning our lives after the order of God, we have to daily ask God to clothe us with being longsuffering. Colossians 3:12-15 clarifies this for every believer "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." To bear with the inconsistencies of others, the negative mindset of others, the unwholesome exchange of dialog with others, character assassinations from others, the downplay of one's existence, and so many other circumstances that deal with being patience can be tiresome.
In many cases, the easiest thing to desire to do involves cutting ties with a person that we do not want to be bothered with anymore regarding any type of negativity. However, God expects more out of us as Christians than simply cutting ties with people "altogether" unless a person thrives on being divisive (Titus 3:10-11). Romans 12:18-19 records that "if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord."
Sometimes this may be loving people from a distance and limiting your interaction for a while with them depending on the severity of the situation. While at other times, most of the friction that we faced is trivial and a simple apology will bring about reconciliation and restoration. There are moments, when interaction must cease with divisive people. Sadly, disputes and confrontations unfold within the local assembly of God’s house. If we face attacks from others and opposition from others, we should be longsuffering with others just as how God has been longsuffering with us. We should pray for them and not prey on them. We should pray for their deliverance from such a mindset, and we should pray that we would follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not to resort to our own humanistic understanding.
In comparison to others, we too have crossed the line numerous of times, too many times to count as a matter of fact but God has continually demonstrated His longsuffering nature toward us. One way for the Holy Spirit to make this virtue visible within us, involves being slow to anger and patience with others. Scripture contains the following verses to help us understand this reality.
Proverbs 14:29 NKJV — "He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly."
James 1:19-20 NKJV — "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God."
Being slow to wrath, slow to speak, quick to hear and of great understanding shows a great level of patience, longsuffering, and maturity. It keeps us from acting off of sinful impulses and causing more harm than good. A loving countenance towards our fellowman will help us to deal with matters in a Christian fashion as opposed to being caught up in self. 1 Corinthians 13:4 mentions that "love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up." It is vital for Christian maturity and love to be evident in order for the virtue of being longsuffering to be a core part of our lives.
Have you grown to the point where the fruit of the Spirit aids you to exhibit patience and longsuffering instead of possessing a haughty spirit? A haughty spirit and a quick-tempered disposition will always lead to confusion, friction, and tension.
God has called us to be longsuffering and patience not divisive, quarrelsome, and hot-tempered. Let use forsake our own way and align our lives under the governance of the fruit of the Spirit.
References
https://balancedlifeskills.com/2010/11/20/patience-waiting-for-the-right-time/
The Holman KJV Study Bible
William MacDonald. The Believer’s Bible Commentary
The MacArthur Study Bible
Jonathan Landry Cruse. The Character of Christ.
The Life Application Study Bible