Long SUFFERING – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 1 Thessalonians 2:16

The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up. 1 Corinthians 13: 4

When I was young, we played a game called “Mario” in a friend’s place. He had a brother called “Luigi” by the way. And these characters had what they called “Lives”. The lives they had was an indication of when they fell into traps or pit or the enemy’s hands and die. So, one had to have fallen or failed a number of times before you actually die. Now the knowledge of the player that when your life is getting shorter and shorter you panic, and most times make mistake. So, I saw the less you panic and remained focused you’d eventually not lose your life.

Now, we call this phenomenon in the bible spiritual life’s, it’s not seen but it exists. Luigi and Mario cannot see the lives they have left but we the controller see it. similarly, we do not see the mercy of God, but God shows us anyway when we recover lives on the way, do some good deeds to pick up more hearts and increase our life span. So, now the knowledge that God sees our lives means he more capable of warning us when we are headed to the wrong path. we seldom take this for granted because he is patient and therefore enduring long in suffering towards our SINS.

How so, God is not willing that anyone should perish, When God told Adam that the day he sinned he would die. It is true, the day Mario falls he dies and loses lives. But then Adam was not conscious of his sin yet because the knowledge of sin had not dawned on him. Children are like that; they sometimes don’t know that they are sinning until you make them know it’s bad for them. Genesis 2: 17. So, because its ignorant sin, it doesn’t count so to speak against man because he does not know. So, Adam lived 930 years. So, more knowledge more sorrow as Solomon said; why we now open to our human condition. But when the law came through Moses the knowledge of sin was revived so man knew he was in sin man’s years reduced to 120 years. This is why the Lord asks us to be wise to what is good and simple to that which is evil. Because the day you know sin from people around you, if you are not willing to kill your flesh you will do sin, leading you to death. Now, Adam did not die immediately because back then the knowledge of sin is not as much as now. So, he lived 930 years. He death spiritually as with Mario’s case was slow because he did not know sin and fall often. By the time we reach Moses era we had passed Noah where man’s knowledge of sin had greatly increased. So, the law was brought to make man see his sin’s hoping he’d repent but this was not effective as man’s heart had not changed. Yielding more sins, so even the best in the bible had sins, showing mankind’s inability to hold or help himself from sin.

New International Version
in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. 1 Thessalonians 2: 16

So, some people are like Mario who keep falling but sometimes they do good to increase their life span and return back to sin until they eventually physically die.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 The Message (MSG)
Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

So, the rich gain some sort of lives by doing good as seen above. But in this we see the face on the lord through his emotions i.e. wrath in 1 Thessalonians 2: 16, when people keep heaping sins upon sin thinking the grace of God is a license to sin. This is why Solomon said King James Version 16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? 17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

So as Man from was trying to understand God UNDER the law, he acted as our parents, if you do this you will get this, however if you do this you don’t get this like reinforcement learning. But through the Old Testament, man started through the face of his servant began to know God’s likes and dislikes and God saw we didn’t understand he did this out of love, and his heart towards even in anger was good, because like us God could be displeased.

Most times, God judgement fell on man when he made mistakes in his presence – the 10 commandments given, the ark of the Lord with the Philistine and Eli, the ark of covenant with Uzziah, this very presence within the ark that man grieved which brought judgement in Man is the spirit of God, within the inner chamber of the ark of covenant. This covenant is reenacted through Jesus’ blood and dwells in us as the “Holy Spirit”.

But as with the Holy Spirit our helper as gentle as he can be grieved when not heard. As with when it is revealed.

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms:

“‘May his place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in it,’[e]

and,

“‘May another take his place of leadership.’[f]

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

Can be grieved when ignored. And once, we lose his presence he does not return back. Hence, Davids cry that God should not take his presence from him. So, the face of God is seen through his son and his son speak to us by his spirit within us (new covenant), however in the Old Testament the face of God was revealed through his judgement. As seen in the lives of

30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 1 Samuel 2: 30

Because Eli’s sons slept with women at the temple see 1 Samuel 2: ²² “Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting”. They treated the lord offering and servants with contempt: 1 Samuel 2: ¹⁷ This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they^[b] were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. So, Gods judgement was:

30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.

34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”

While God is slow to anger, not willing that any should perish. While he does not reward man according to his deeds, he rewards according to the path or Way we choose to take as with Hophni and Phineas, he does weigh deeds and actions a person takes to reward us. As the devil keeps accusing us daily (as with people), until we die spiritually to a point of no return, we may never understand we have lost Gods presence, because we have mistaken long suffering which is the love of God as a license to sin rather than the grace to overcome sin. Eli was certainly pardoned many times until God choose a replacement!

New International Version
When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. Psalm 50: 21

We are after all justified by our words not judged by it or by his blood, but we should remember that “God is not a man that he should change his mind neither is the son of man that he should lie” when we see the judgement of God, he will not relent on his judgement. we have seen it in the Old Testament with prophet like Habakkuk asking God to relent from his anger, but God didn’t.

And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

26 This is the interpretation of the thing: Mene; God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.

27 Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.  

16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 
Hebrews 12:16–17

Esau cursed his inheritance and became justified by his words then took actions to sell it. This is why prostitutes are akin to fornicator, they sell their temple for meat (money) in the Old Testament. May God help us in Jesus’ name.

Songs:

Colossians 3:12-20 12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as* Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Synapsis:

At times we attempt to justify our sins by other people’s sins or actions because we don’t want to change. You won’t be justified by others sin but by the cross and the blood of Jesus. If we all choose to sin and justify it, we are heaping up sin and Gods wrath will surely come.