To Suffer part 1
I guess we're wrapping up our kind of uber Rant Series about Colossians 3:12 here in the next few days. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering." We saw that kindness is usefulness. The bowels of mercy are having pity on people when there is literally nothing you can get from it except what THEY get from it. Meekness is not weakness, it is strength under control. And humbleness of mind is the mind of Christ--being willing to humiliate yourself in order to help someone else. Which brings us to longsuffering. And before I get to the Strong's Greek Concordance definition I want to say... sometimes you have to suffer for a long time. Sometimes things take longer than you think they should. Sometimes things don't go the way you think they should. But when you begin to see the bigger picture--the grand scheme, God's plan--you can endure. That's why love never fails: Because love endures. When everything and everyone else gives up... love stands firm. It (HE) is the rock, the foundation, that we build everything else on. But, ok. Let's build our foundation for this Rant series. "Longsuffering" in Colossians 3:12 is number 3115 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "longanimity, that is (objectively) forbearance or (subjectively) fortitude: - longsuffering, patience." And when I was reading (and writing) that definition the word that came to MY mind was... toughness. Spiritual, mental, and emotional fortitude. Being able to take what life throws at you. And life will throw things at you. Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). In the world you WILL have tribulation. That's just called living. And I've always said the hardest part of life is living. Doing it every day. But... and this is pretty important... if you're reading this, you have a 100% success rate on making it through bad days. And good days. And ok days. You've survived up to this point. You may feel like you've suffered, but let me give you some peace... you ARE an overcomer. Not because YOU personally, in your own strength, have overcome anything. But because JESUS overcame the world. And because you're in Him. Because He's in you. So even in your eyeball deep in the suffering, I'm here to tell you you'll be ok. Even if you're in a situation where it seems like there's no way out, God allows u-turns. And I believe He ENCOURAGES them. You may have suffered for a long time. But you're tough. There's something inside of you that might bend but won't break. I don't believe in heart break. I think the heart is too strong. It can ACHE. Oh yes, it certainly can do that. But it heals. And if you guard your heart--by keeping it open to love and not by closing it down--it will continue to do what it was created to do. Which means YOU will continue to do what YOU were created to do. The heart will never stop loving. Even in the face of hate. Love doesn't depend on anything or anybody else. Love will suffer for a long, long time if it (HE) has to. And the heart will keep pumping. God's heart will keep beating, with love, in your chest. What's inside WILL come out, when you know and believe that its in there. That HE is in there. That LOVE is in there!