2024-07-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week the Holy Spirit was giving me His perspective. It helps to remember 2 PET 3: 8-9, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Paul wrote in GA 3: 1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” The Galatians were being given a mixture of true and false teaching, in an effort to mix the old law of Judaism with Christ’s Gospel to make it more palatable to the people. When Paul saw what was going on, he offered opposition to it, favoring instead, the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was circumstances like these that caused God to need to remind us of His timing not being the same as ours and His purpose to bring us all to repentance of our sins. Pastors and teachers of the pure Gospel, like Paul and eventually, Peter, expressed their belief that the influence of false teaching was degrading the hope for the resurrection for new and existing believers in certain areas. We must also understand that teaching like Gnosticism was going on during Paul’s ministry, which was diverting potential believers in Christ from the truth. These verses [2 PET 1: 9-10; 2 PET 3: 5; and the above-mentioned] help Christians evaluate and sharpen their soteriological [salvation views] and eschatological [view of the final events of history] by reinforcing the truth that God’s sovereign timing is perfect in both His second coming and the salvation of all those who are his beloved, elect people.
The Greek word, hupomone [pronounced hoo-po-mon’-nay] was introduced last time and reminds us that it means to endure, to remain under challenges (trials). This means for one to not give in to temptations to give up, perseverance in relation to circumstances. For a short while, when Paul arrived on the scene in Galatia, Peter was doing exactly that to keep the peace. Paul and Peter had a heated discussion about this in GAL 2: 11-21. (You’ll see the name Cephas used here, which is Peter’s name in Aramaic). Real hupomone is inspired by God. We also must not forget that part of that truth is 1 COR 10: 13, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can endure it.” That way out is the power and teaching of Jesus Christ.
As long as we have hupomone, as defined above, I should also make the distinction between it and one more Greek word, makrothumia, [pronounced, macro-thoo’-mee-ah] which is a gift from the Holy Spirit. It means being long-suffering, having forbearance, self-restraint. I can’t help but think of the martyrs under God’s heavenly throne in REV 6: 9-11. “When He [Christ] opened the fifth seal, I [John] saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little while longer, until the full number of their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.” We know from RO 12: 19-20, God opinion about revenge. “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘It is Mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’” Before leaving this issue, it must be said that God has created us to have the capability of demonstrating the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even patience. The question is: Are we willing to show them? If we feel like we’re having trouble doing this, there is nothing wrong with asking our Lord prayerfully to lend His help and some of His power to us to enable us to do it. And yes, that takes faith and trust in Him!
PRAYER: O Most Holy Lord, we are so blessed by the gifts of Your Spirit and the promises You genuinely make to us! Patience and endurance in the face of trials is learned behavior. It doesn’t come naturally to us. It’s the reason why Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy, his feelings about the young man’s demeanor. 2 TIM 3: 10-11, “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, an Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.” This is a case and point of what we believe—that God created us to be able to endure through all our individual challenges. And yes, there are times of frustration when our faith in this truth isn’t always strong. You are an amazing God, One Who didn’t create us to fail in our makrothumia or our hupomone! Dearest Father, we acknowledge Your love and power. You are a loving God, Who wants us to come to repentance and to spend the rest of eternity in sweet, heavenly fellowship with You. We offer You praise, thanks, and our loyalty forever, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I am commanded to continue this subseries of messages on the differences between hupomone (endurance) and makrothumia (long-suffering, forbearance, patience over time). There are lots of tough challenges that happen to people over the course of their lives. Some examples are illnesses, accidents that change one’s life, financial troubles, the loss of loved ones, and disappointments. A parent might have to endure the pain of a child on drugs or alcohol, people who do well in school but haven’t the money to finish their higher education, a child that is born with a life-altering defect or illness, the loss of a parent (s) early in life, divorce, and the loss of one’s spouse leading to widowhood, and so on are some examples. Each of us must decide if we will take the time to learn God’s teaching (will) and put that teaching into practice in our lives. No one can make this decision for you. If my experience means anything, following our Lord Jesus Christ leads to inner peace and is the way to happiness. He wants us to be reconciled to Him [RO 5: 9-11] and live with Him eternally.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2024. All Rights Reserved
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