The Riches We Spend Daily

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?  Romans 2:4

Paul reminds us here of the riches we spend daily from God's goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. Sounds good! Not all of it, and what isn't comes from our side of course. God's goodness is given to us in that He wants the best for us each day and has sent the best, His Son Jesus, to be a propitiation for our sin. God's longsuffering is because we often give back to Him the worst of us. Those who should know faith, love, and joy in our Lord often give back unbelief in a critical moment. We grow angry with the Lord when He doesn't do what we want. And many other sins we give back to the One who is nothing but good to us. And then there is that center one - forbearance.

Forbearance is the time we live in. That time between the fall from the goodness God created in Eden perpetrated by Adam and Eve, and that final redemption to heavenly joy for those who will believe in Jesus the Christ. In between those times is the forbearance of God in that those who will refuse to believe are not consumed by the wrath of our Lord in His judgment against sin. That same wrath was upon us until we came to believe in Jesus and receive His forgiveness and grace. You are reading this and the Rapture of the saints has not yet come? Be glad that all of us had and still have that time of forbearance to believe. It will be some tough sailing for those who come to believe just ten minutes after the Rapture bus has left the station, and far worse for those who refuse the Lord Jesus when the judgment comes. 

It is a good day to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky