"However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life." (v.16)
One of the reasons that Paul was called to be an apostle was so that Jesus Christ could use him as a pattern of how the Christian life should be lived. Paul, who many scholars say may be only second to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, in being one of the smartest people to have ever lived, was at the top of his class at Pharisee school. He would have been giving the valedictorian speech which I'm sure would be filled with why Christianity needs to be snuffed out. He had a tremendous zeal for Judaism (he murdered and tortured Christians) to match his superior intellect. In fact, this zeal is one of the reasons, I believe, that God picked Paul to be the apostle to the nations. God knew that if Paul was a Christian he would be perhaps the greatest evangelist to have ever lived. Paul pretty much did just that. He spread the gospel all over the Middle East, Asia and parts of Europe. His goal was to go to Spain! God knew that Paul would take His name to the nations so that other people may have a chance to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
However, God also chose Paul as a pattern of suffering. Paul suffered as much as any of the followers of Christ. Listen to his second letter to the church at Corinth:
"Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." (9:24-28)
A lot of times when we try to share Christ with people, we leave out the cost of the calling. To follow Christ, and to follow him well will equal persecution. Because we have freedom of religion in America, we may not be persecuted as Paul was persecuted. However, we will be labeled intolerant, bigoted, unloving, backwards, old-fashioned, weird, stupid, poor, and even crazy.
Are you suffering-long? Is the pattern of Paul being duplicated in your life? I suspect it is not and I can't say that it is in my life. However, if we are following Christ, we should experience some friction from this world. And suffering is good:
"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)
Sufferings lead to endurance. Endurances produces character. Character produces hope (a bedrock faith). And our faith does not put us to shame because we have the love of God, his Holy Spirit in our hearts. Amen!
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