“Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;” (Colossians 3:12 RV).
The final characteristic given to us in Colossians 3:13 is longsuffering. A look at the original language of this passage defines “longsuffering” in the following manner: “Longsuffering is that quality of self restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish; it is the opposite of anger, and is associated with mercy, and is used of God…” (1)
Another source associates longsuffering with this idea of patience under provocation: “This denotes restraint which enables one to bear injury and insult without resorting to retaliation. It accepts the wrong without complaint. Long-suffering is an attribute of God (Rom 2:4) and a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22).” (2)
This quality is reflective of a person who holds the power to strike back against others but chooses not to do so. It describes a person who does not seek to get even or take revenge upon those who have done them wrong. Instead, this characteristic is associated with someone who bears patiently with those who are argumentative, bad tempered, or easily offended.
This type of person is someone who follows Jesus’ good example…
“God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps. Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly” (1 Peter 2:21-23 GW).
Of course, it can be difficult to maintain this attitude in light of our natural desire to retaliate against those who hurt us. But as 1 Thessalonians 5:15 reminds us, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (NIV). Jesus also directed His followers to adopt this way of thinking in a well-known portion of the Beatitudes…
“But I say: Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust too” (Matthew 5:44-45).
Taken together, these passages tell us that our actions must be balanced by our responsibility to accurately represent God regardless of how we feel.
(1) makrothumia (G3115) Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words with Topical Index, W.E. Vine, © 1996, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
(2) Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2464). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.