Longsuffering part 2
I feel like sometimes, lately, I've been kind picking on "traditional Christianity." But only because I don't think it helps anybody and in fact traps people in bondage. And we were not meant to live that way. We were meant for something more than religion. Let me say that again: We were meant for something more than religion. Jesus didn't come to establish a new religion. And He didn't come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive! And the difference, as we know, between death and life... is love! No love, no life. Know love, know life! So, I guess if you absolutely positively NEED a religion... let love be your religion. Let love be your guide. Let the Word of God (which is Jesus, which is love) be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Anyway, I said all of that to say this: "Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience" (Colossians 3:12 NLT). And I REALLY said all that to say THIS, about THAT: Religion will tell you that tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (longsuffering) are things you have to do IN ORDER TO BE the holy people God loves. When that's not it at all. That's religion in a nutshell--be someone you're not in order to get what you think you haven't got--but that's not God. That's not love. Love is a gift. It cannot be earned. It is freely given and must be received. Received and released. We receive it BY releasing it, and release it BY receiving it! Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. We love, because God first loved us. We love Him back (with the love He has loved us with) by loving each other. Giving what you've got by knowing and believing that you've got it. What does this have to do with longsuffering? Suffer a little longer and stay with me. We're not putting on the New Man, all of those things listed in Colossians, in order to be someone we're not. We're sinking into those things that we already are in order to experience who we've always been! Christ in you, the hope of glory! The hope of the glory inside being revealed by coming out of us, coming out through us, coming out AS us! What am I trying to say about patience today? Get to the point, preacher! I'm trying to say... give yourself a break. You're stuck with yourself. Twenty four, seven, three sixty five. But you're not stuck where you're at. It came to pass, not to stay. You're different than you were yesterday, and you're different than you will be tomorrow. It's a journey. A maturation process. Learning how to love by learning how we are loved. Learning what it means to be the New Man by "putting Him on." Because, guess what--whether you are kind, humble, patient, and all those other things or not... you are still who God chose to be the holy people He loves! Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing. Nothing you've done, nothing you will ever do. Nothing. Paul wrote at length about it. You can take it to the bank. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Not a horrible place to start. So, again, give yourself a break. Be patient with yourself. Longsuffering... with yourself. Grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge of Jesus--who He is, which is who YOU are. Let that heart knowledge (the knowledge that passes knowledge) fill you to overflowing so that the tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience that are already inside you can come out! That way YOU can experience those things by giving them away to the people you come into contact with!