The Fruit of Forbearance in The Believer's Life
Have you become more patient since your salvation?
The goal in the believer’s life is to have the nine characteristics of the fruit of the Holy Spirit manifest.
The fruit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Today we are going to look at forbearance or patience.
A definition of forbearance is:
“The quality of being patient and being able to forgive someone or control yourself in a difficult situation.”
Whereas the definition of patience is slightly different:
“The ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed.”
Forbearance can also be described as longsuffering, perseverance, or endurance.
It is a strong virtue. Jesus demonstrated forbearance when forgiving those who crucified him.
Forbearance is when we refrain from taking revenge when we have been wronged.
It is the same kind of patience that God shows towards sinners.
We all have the power to return evil for evil, but as Christians, we are told not to seek revenge, but to leave it to God.
The Lord says he will repay:
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
—Romans 12:19
We will be tested on this. Recently I had a memory of something painful someone did to me many years ago. He never apologized and even believed what he did was right.
When the feelings rose up in me, probably for the first time as I had suppressed them, I got a feeling of powerlessness, and felt the urge to get revenge.
However, I stopped that thought and the feeling subsided.
I have never been one to seek revenge in my life and I wasn’t going to start now.
I believe it was the Holy Spirit who gave me the grace to hold back from returning evil for evil.
Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to give us the love and strength to refrain from taking revenge or being impatient in difficult circumstances.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Image by Ryan Jacobson on Unsplash
That's a powerful teaching. Thank you!
Merci beaucoup encore et toujours! Blessings to you!