Endurance and Long-Suffering with Joy
During my Bible reading shortly after preparing these posts on suffering, I came to these two verses:
Colossians 1:11 “Being empowered with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6 “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.”
These are experiences, not of mature Christians like Paul, but of typical Christian believers. The Thessalonians in particular were all relatively new believers, probably saved less than two years.
They were not humans gritting their teeth to survive. No. They were empowered by the Lord in their sufferings and had “joy of the Holy Spirit.” May we be encouraged by their examples and receive the same empowering they received.
Their experiences could be common for Christians today and we have the same supply that they had. Before I wrote this, I read testimonies forwarded from the Ukraine which match this pattern. When New Jerusalem blossoms in fullness there will not be any more suffering but there will be today’s joy greatly multiplied.
Photo courtesy of Burning Well.
Posted by Don on July 15, 2022
