“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4 KJV).

God placed longsuffering in you the day you were born again. The Greek word for longsuffering is this: patience, endurance, to bear long with the frailties, offences, injuries, and provocations of others without murmuring or resentment.

Then if that’s not enough, I’ll give you Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words’ definition: that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish. It is associated with mercy.

Then here is a definition for patience: the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. It is the opposite of despondency and it is associated with hope.

All of that says this: The individual who is operating in longsuffering is someone who is able to endure—who can put up with all the mess that people throw up against them. They talk about you, and lie on you.

And you don’t retaliate. You don’t get mad and then get even. And you are able to do it without murmuring and complaining. Somebody said, “God put that in me?” Yes. The day you were born again, the Lord placed longsuffering in you as a seed.

Now, whether or not the seed grows and becomes a tree, is depending upon what you do about it. But you have the propensity to walk in it.

When you read that definition of longsuffering, a particular person may have come to mind immediately. You thought trial, test, injure. But, we’ve not only sinned against God at times, but sometimes we reveled in it, refused to repent from it, and dared somebody to do something about it.

And instead of getting mad and slapping us down, He was longsuffering. Aren’t you glad? Sometimes we get hardheaded. The Lord is telling us to go this way, go this way. We are constantly saying, “I’m going my own way. This is what I feel. This is what I think. This is what I want.”

Who are we to tell God the way? But He still is longsuffering with us—week in, week out, month in, month out, sometimes year in, year out. Thank God for His longsuffering.

What God does with us, He expects His children to act like Him dealing with other people. So, He put His character in us. The character of longsuffering.

Scripture References: Luke 6:31; Romans 5:6-8