Longsuffering

2 Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." The context of this verse is the promise of Christ's return, redemption of creation, and destruction of the wicked. I was reading this passage in the Prayer Room and got stuck for a while on this verse. I kept writing and writing about God's longsuffering nature. Longsuffering literally means "to suffer long," or be patient. When we must exercise patience, it implies suffering because we are having to wait for something we badly want right then. What is it that God so badly wants? He wants to marry His Bride and return to earth to dwell with her. This has been His ultimate desire from eternity past. He is consumed with it; it's all He thinks about. What's more, He can have her whenever He wants, for it's His choice when to return. What restrains Him? It's love for those who do not yet know Him, for those who blatantly reject Him, even hate Him. He knows if He were to return now, they would perish and be cast into the lake of fire...and so He waits, to give them ample time to repent and return His love. Even though all creation reveals the glory of God, there is so much evidence of Christ's love, and people hear the Gospel many times and reject him over and over, He still waits, hopes for them to turn. He puts His own desire on hold for the sake of more people coming into the Kingdom. He's willing to suffer long. The laying down of His life, the choosing to cause Himself more pain for another's gain, did not stop at the cross; He does it every second that He does not return.

If you read the book of Revelation and the judgments, God seems mean. There will be famines, wars, massive amounts of people dying. But picture a child abuser, or a human traffiker who rapes children and women, and then think about the fact that the reason Christ has not returned yet is because He is waiting for this wicked person to see the light, that He LOVES even this depraved human being. He wants NONE to perish...that's why He waits. So when He unleashes judgment on the earth, it's because He has waited the absolute maximum amount of time He could and given people ample time and evidence to repent. You see, everything He does is love - the cross, judgment, everything. He's always moving out of a heart of pure, undefiled, crazy love.