Saturday Nighttime Thoughts

Be imitators of God, and God is love. Love is compassionate and patient--co-suffering and longsuffering.

Compassion (co-suffering)

God is the Father of compassion--the Father of co-suffering. Christ, the incarnate God, co-suffered with us by taking on our flesh, facing the very temptations we face, feeling our hurts, and coming into our brokenness to bring healing. The Spirit co-suffers with us in our prayers, crying out with groans when we have no words to utter. And as imitators of God, we are called to be co-sufferers with our neighbors. To love is to come alongside the broken, even in our own brokenness, and giving of ourselves--a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, a word of encouragement--hope. Am I a co-sufferer?

Scriptures:

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” {{Colossians 3:12-14}}

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."{{(Lamentations 3:22-23}}

"Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble." {{1 Peter 3:8}}

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." {{2 Corinthians 1:3-4}}

Patience (longsuffering)

The very first attribute listed of love is patience--longsuffering. I used to ask how long one must suffer in love. The answers I got were varied. Some encouraged me to give up hope, to not bear any more suffering for the sake of another. I'm learning now that I'm called to a much higher standard. See, Christ longsuffered and continues to longsuffer for me, for us, for broken people who have long since stopped deserving his longsuffering. Yet, He longsuffered to the point of death. Am I not called to the same? "Be imitators of God." I think that what we're actually called to as co-sufferers is to longsuffer to the point of death--death to ourselves, to our wills--to longsuffer until it hurts, and then to longsuffer some more.

And we don't only longsuffer for our neighbors, but for God and in prayer. We see the Psalmists reveling in the Lord's answer to their calling after they longusffered in waiting. Sometimes our waiting can feels more like longing, a deep ache that pounds at our hearts as we wait for God's hand to move. Longsuffer for the Lord because He is faithful to fulfill His promises.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." {{Philippians 1:6}}

Scriptures:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." {{1 Corinthians 13:4-8a}}

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." {{Romans 12:12}}

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." {{Ephesians 4:2}}

“You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord’s coming is near.” {{James 5:8}}

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry." {{Psalm 40:1}}

"But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." {{Romans 8:25}}

Be clothed in co-suffering and longsuffering.

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience." {{Colossians 3:12}}

As an imitator of God, what garments do I wear? Those of laziness, inward focus, relational apathy, or an unwillingness to subject myself to discomfort? Or am I clothed in suffering--co-suffering and longsuffering--just as the Man of Sorrows is clothed?