Patience and Longsuffering

Patience is such a hard one. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit, and I don’t know about you, but it is probably the one that I struggle with the most. We have heard, “patience is a virtue.” How true. And, “Lord give me patience and give it to me now!” Of course that is jokingly, but we don’t like to go through the trials and challenges that will lead to patient. We are (or at least I am) impatient people. We’ve heard that we live in a microwave society. We are just too uptight. We don’t like to wait. I imagine maybe this is less so in other countries? Anyways, then there is longsuffering. What is the difference? They seem to be interchangeable.

I looked up the Greek of patience. It does seem to be interchangeable with longsuffering. It is not just the King James Version (or is it?). Longsuffering seems to show us that there is more to it than just waiting around for something or someone. The word is makrothumia, which Strong’s defines it as “the quality of being patient and enduring, especially in the face of provocation or difficulty. It is often translated as “patience” or “long-suffering” in English. This term emphasizes a self-restraint that does not hastily retaliate or punish, especially when faced with offenses or challenges.” It is also used to describing God as “slow to anger.” So what does God’s word tell us about this part of the fruit of the Spirit?

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Psalms 103:8-12

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.

We can have joy knowing that God is patient and forgiving. He gives us mercy. He loves us so much He sent His Son to pay for our sins through the cross. What an amazing God we have! Knowing this, we can have patience too, that our sins are forgiven and that one day we will be with Him for ever when all our struggles, all our sin, all our sadness, all our imperfections will be wiped away.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

God went out of His way to pursue us. He wants our love. He gave His love to us. And he waits patiently for us to come to Him.

2 Peter 3:8-9

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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.

And His promise is that we are saved by His grace to those who accept it. We will have eternal life. We will have abundant life and joy. And one day Christ will return and take His children home.

Hebrews 9:27-28

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

2 Peter 3:13-15

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you…

God continues to wait for us to turn to Him so that we might be saved. He is patient. I am so thankful He was patient with me and that He never gave up on me. And for those who believe in Jesus Christ, we wait patiently for His return when He will make all things right.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

We can be patient, knowing that one day Christ will return. And one day we will be perfected in Him and we will have eternal life with Him. Knowing this, we should be patient not only for what is to come, but also with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As followers of Christ we should follow His example and be forgiving and longsuffering, being slow to anger and lifting each other up. This is part of the fruit of the Spirit. This is the evidence that others see that we are His.

James 1:19-20

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.

Ephesians 4:1-3

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We can see how each part of the fruit of the Spirit is tied together. When we love each other, we are patient with each other and show kindness to each other. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, Love is patient and kind. As Jesus says in John 13, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Ephesians 4:26-32

“BE ANGRY, AND DO NOT SIN”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

I think this is what is meant by longsuffering. Being forgiving, not losing our temper, being understanding, watching what we say to others, showing kindness. And pray for one another. Paul often prays for His brothers and sisters, and I often use His prayers to pray for others.

Colossians 1:9-14

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.