I remember the instructions on many a firework from family Guy Fawkes nights: ‘Light the blue touch-paper and retire immediately’.
Short fuses can be dangerous and closeness to explosives is always hazardous. I have sometimes thought that there are Christians who should carry similar ‘health and safety’ warnings, ‘Danger — high explosives!’ But the fruit of the Spirit we are considering this month is the exact opposite — it is ‘patience’, often translated ‘long-suffering’.
Manifestations of love
The nine evidences of the life of the Holy Spirit, within the Christian, are listed for us in Galatians 5.22-23. Each of them should be seen as a manifestation of love, which is the first and greatest fruit of the Spirit, and that is because God himself is love. The first three in Paul’s list deal with our relationship with God (love, joy, peace), but the next group of three focus more on our relationships with others, and long-suffering is the first example.
In its origin, the word becomes the prolonged restraint of anger, so that it tends to have a passive meaning, with the emphasis on not reacting to provocation. So, from the earliest days of God’s dealings with Israel, this quality is God’s frequent reaction towards their sin and disobedience. We might describe this as God’s forbearance and Psalm 103 provides us with its classic exposition. ‘The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger (long-suffering) and abounding in love... he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities’ (vv.8-10). This patience of God does not, of course, lighten the seriousness of sin, or its eventual and inevitable punishment. Rather, God’s restraint is to afford time for repentance and resolution of the conflict.
Abraham and Job
Two Old Testament characters who exemplify such patience are specifically held up as examples to New Testament believers. Abraham waited patiently to receive what God had promised and we must imitate his active and expectant faith, if we are to receive our promised blessings too (Hebrews 6.12).
Job is the other long-sufferer, steadfast in faith, refusing to curse God, even in the face of extreme provocation at Satan’s hands (James 5.11). Here the word’s emphasis is subjective, on personal experience, challenging us to wait actively in patient perseverance for the promised return of the Lord Jesus, whatever long-suffering the interim may require.
Don’t keep score
But it is the parable of Jesus in Matthew 18.21-35 which provides the clearest indication of what this fruit should look like. Asked ‘how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?’, Jesus replies, ‘seventy times seven’, indicating that you do not keep the score. The story of the unmerciful servant follows. A king forgave his servant an immense debt which he could never begin to repay, in response to his plea, ‘Be patient (long-suffering) with me’. The debt is cancelled; but the servant then demands, with menaces, the repayment of a trifling sum he is owed by one of his fellows. The plea is made in exactly the same words, but the request is rejected and the unfortunate debtor is thrown into prison. The message is clear. Because God is patient and long-suffering in cancelling our immeasurable debt, which we could never repay, we are to be patient and forbearing with each other. This is the greatness of God’s mercy and he looks for it to be replicated in the dealings of his people with one another, as he lives within us to empower us, by his Spirit. ‘Love is patient......’, as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13.4.
Long-suffering, then, is an essential characteristic of Christian discipleship, motivated by God’s infinite patience towards us and enabled by the Holy Spirit within. It is not an optional extra for honours candidates; it is the normal Christian life. At the very heart of this life-style attitude lies a love for others, which is prepared to put myself in their shoes, remembering that, for Jesus, his identification with us meant the self-giving of his incarnation and ultimately of his death in our place upon the cross. Should we not have mercy on one another, just as the Master has upon us?
Put it in God’s hands
So, whenever the fuse is lit, make sure that it is a long one providing opportunity for it to be extinguished long before the explosion wrecks everything. Better still, don’t let it be ignited. When tempted to be unforgiving, retaliatory or angry, I must remember where I would be if God had dealt with me like that. I must put the situation into God’s hands and send up a telegram prayer for the Spirit’s power and enabling. I must ask God to love my opponent through me, as they taste the fruit of the Spirit which is long-suffering.
