Today’s Reading: Titus 3
“Be the most generous person that you know“. – S. Doran
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23 KJV
Be Ready for Every Good Work
3 Remind them to be … to be ready for every good work,… 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, … 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people….14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. – Titus 3: 1;4-5;8;14
Longsuffering is the part of the fruit of the Spirit that puzzles me for quite some time. When I was younger, I always thought it had a negative connotation. As I grow and mature, the word that I have seen take on the whole meaning. In other bible versions, longsuffering is referred to as patience. I wondered “Why would a loving Father would allow longsuffering?”
But I’ve had a revelation this week. It’s not longsuffering that is the fruit but what does it produce?
It goes back to the relationship. Your relationship with God and the Spirit will create how you will see longsuffering. What is a relationship that you have with God and Spirit?
There are two examples of how longsuffering can be used by God with you. You can use the long suffering for the better or you can begrudge the suffering.
As an example, you can use longsuffering and be miserable. For instance, if you had a divorce, a death of a loved one, or a breakdown in your entire life; you could see these as ways of God punishing you and allowing devastation to rule. You can become so absorbed in the actions and not allow the relationship that God has with you to grow and to allow you to see past that point of despair.
I have witnessed the most amazing testament that is the full example of how long suffering produces a generous heart and abilities to do good in spite of everything.
A close and great friend of mine experienced longsuffering that has created one of the most generous hearts that I know. He has allowed it to produce good works for others. This friend had one of the most amazing days of his life, juxtaposed with one of the most tragic days of his life. He had just proposed to his fiancé and they were excited about the new life that they were about to embark. They got engaged and three days later they were celebrating their engagement with a trip. On this trip, his new fiancé had a tragic accident that almost left her completely paralyzed. She fell off his back and landed 15 feet below on the ground on her back and crushed part of her spine. This changed the trajectory of their life.
She had to do extensive surgeries and excessive therapy to recoup. This created a piece of longsuffering for my friend. He felt despair… loneliness… heartache… and overall pain. He could allow this to consume him and be isolated and upset with the world. But he decided to see this as an opportunity to live life to the fullest and to cherish each and every moment with his family, friends, and those he cares about. He then transformed this longsuffering into becoming a generous person. He took this inner gut punch and was able to relate to others who were going through something similar.
Because of the longsuffering, he has created joy and peace and connection with so many individuals who are not able to see that silver lighting. He shared with me that “Whenever I see somebody who is in the situation, I actually internalize their hurt and if I can help to eliminate some of that, ‘punch in the stomach hurt’ he knows he’s done some good for that individual.”
It takes a strong person to be able to see how God can use them in other people’s lives. In Titus, we are shown to do good work and continue to do these good work all the time. When I see these good work, I attempt to be generous and be more generous than I can ever imagine.
As my friend, S. Doran, at the beginning of the passage, states “be the most generous person that you can be.”
You are not trying to outdo anybody except for yourself.
Let’s see if we are able to get more than we can even expect ourselves to do.
Be blessed and be generous.
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