GOD IS LONG-SUFFERING

     “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called not of Jews only but also of the gentiles.” (Romans 9:232-23)

     

     Peter writes how “the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Pet. 3:20.)  What was the condition of man in Noah’s day? “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5.) Yet, in view of such evil, God did not swiftly execute His wrath, but He was long-suffering while Noah built the ark for the saving of eight souls.

      God would make known the riches of His glory through vessels of mercy, but it appears to take a long time to prepare such vessels, longer than it does to bring forth vessels of wrath. Man, born in sin and shaped in iniquity, has the root of the mystery of iniquity working in him from the moment of his natural birth, when he begins to breathe the atmosphere of this world’s system. A baby can manifest its own self-will the day it is born. But to prepare a vessel of mercy takes the tender care of God, as little by little He purges and purifies, until the whole is conformed to His image. Therefore GOD ENDURES, He is patient; He continues a long time while waiting for this spiritual maturity. Just like He endured the whole wicked stream of humanity all those years while Noah constructed an ark, so now He waits for our perfection.

     “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long (is long-suffering) with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8.) What a beautiful balance, long-suffering with His creation, and yet when He does move, it shall be done speedily. “However for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God alone who is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Timothy 1:16 -17

By Ray Prinzing

Daily Smile:

Three buddies die in a car crash, and they find themselves at the pearly gates.

They are all asked, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you?

The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was the greatest doctor of my time, and a great family man." 



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