The “Suit of Longsuffering”

We are about to complete our Colossians 3:12 wardrobe! I trust you decided to go ahead and get that ‘meekness dress’ we tried on last week! I think once you decide to wear it, you will receive many compliments! We all need to wear it more often!

Well, as tough as it was to add that to our heart’s closet, we now need to add that beautiful, yet hard to buy, ‘suit of longsuffering!’ Like meekness, it is difficult to make that characteristic a part of our lives. Yet, we are told to put it on as well.

Long-suffering is basically a word that is equivalent with patience. Wm. Mounce :  Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines it as delaying anger or punishment. 

Long-suffering and patience involves being willing to put up with the unpleasant and irritating traits of others.  The writers of Expositor’s Bible Commentary describe these twin traits as demonstrating self-restraint and having a steady, cool head in the face of provocation without resorting to retaliation (or desiring to resort to retaliation).  

Verse 13 introduces a similar trait referred to as ‘forbearance’. Mounce defines this as putting up with, tolerating, or overlooking differences through love and forgiveness.

Now that we know what the ‘Long-suffering and Forbearance Suits’ look like, we will have to decide if we want to slip into them. They are definitely difficult to put into practice! It is hard to put up with the unpleasant actions of others. It is hard to delay our anger when we are wronged or irritated. But adding this new ‘suit’ to our wardrobe undeniably makes us beautiful women in Christ.

And, just to throw this in~~I am sure each one of us is guilty of being unpleasant or irritating at one time or another. Isn’t it nice when the other person is wearing that lovely ‘suit of longsuffering and forbearance’ in front of us?

Are you wearing ‘long-suffering’ today?

Debbie