Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. Colossians 1:11
If you were going to ask the Lord Jesus to demonstrate the greatness of His power through you, for what type of endeavour would you want that power displayed? Perhaps you might wish to have that power manifested in the ability to effectively preach the Gospel to large audiences. For example, my own little dream would be to give a 15-minute message on John 3:16 from the pitcher’s mound at a crowded Fenway Park in Boston, before the start of a baseball game. What about holding large audiences of Christians at a conference spellbound by your oratory and ability to unfold the Scriptures? Or conducting a Gospel series that succeeds in bringing out virtually everybody in the neighbourhood? Yes, these would be demonstrations of power, but they are not what the apostle has in mind at all. His prayer for the Colossians is that the greatness of the power of the Lord Jesus might be demonstrated in their patience and longsuffering.
We often view patience and longsuffering as enduring, not displaying power. Perhaps we need to rethink that! The world doesn’t know much about patience and longsuffering, maybe because it requires more power than the unsaved have. Patience displayed as the Lord Jesus displayed it requires tremendous power. Longsuffering is not natural to us, it must be from the Lord. We actually become what we could never be outside of Him.
Bookstores, the Internet, and many other sources are awash in material urging us, teaching us, to assert ourselves and to promote what we want. But very few resources are available on humility. The bookstore section on patience and longsuffering is tiny… actually non-existent. The world is not interested in these topics, because they have no appeal to the flesh, to our old man. But they are the very things that Paul prays that the Colossians would receive power to display. And display joyfully.
There is a very important reason for us to display patience and longsuffering. To do so is to display the character of the Lord Jesus. Our greatest efforts as Christians should be exerted to being like Him. -Jim MacIntosh