I’ll
readily admit that I’m not very patient, but I am working on it. It’s gotten
better, working with the public, but I’m not sure I would be recognized as a
patient person. I interrupt, rush, and get frustrated very quickly. But I’m
working on it and praying about it and, by God’s grace, I will get better.
By
nature, we’re not very patient people and the world we live in now is not
helping. We want everything and we want it now! Everything is instant,
faster, and readily available. But when we become a Christian, flipping out
over how long the drive thru is taking isn’t an option. (I’m talking to myself
here too.) As I mentioned, waiting is not one of my favorite things to do!
;) But God is good! He gives us chances
and opportunities to exercise patience. He reminds us of His Word when we study
it and commit it to memory. He doesn’t give up on us when we’re taking too long
to follow His Will. I was recently given the opportunity to exercise my
patience and honestly, I’m failing. It’s been very difficult to wait to move
into a house that’s yours but I must be patient. It’s going to be difficult but
this is something I need to work on so I’m focusing on the positives of waiting
to move into our new house.
We’re
reminded in Romans 15:5 that God is our ‘source
of patience’. Through Him, we can exercise patience. I’ve found that
patience is divided into different segments:
1)
Waiting on the Lord--Hebrews 10:36, 37: ‘You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what
he promises. For, as the scripture says, “Just a little while longer, and he
who is coming will come; he will not delay.”’ We must have patience to wait
for God and His perfect timing. ‘As for
us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait
for by the power of God’s Spirit working through our faith.’ (Gal. 5:5) Our
patience is only made possible through our faith in Him.
2)
Waiting for His Second Coming--James 5:7-8: ‘Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient
farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait
patiently for the autumn and spring rains. You also must be patient. Keep your
hopes high, for the day of the Lord’s coming is near.’ What a great day that will be! When Jesus
finally returns for His followers and takes us home with Him forever more! That’s
hard to wait for but like all good things, it’s worth the wait!
3)
During trials and tribulations--James 1:3-4: ‘for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the
result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all
the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing.’ Even though it’s hard to think trials are good for us while it’s happening,
they are, even if they hurt at the time. We must endure through them to be
refined and shaped to be like Christ. Not all trials are tests from God. Some
come as the result of our bad choices. Thankfully, God is there, waiting for us
to come back to Him. His love for us is never-ending and neither is His
patience.
4)
With each other--Eph. 4:2: ‘Be
always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one
another.’ God wants us to show His love to the world by being like Jesus.
Jesus humbled Himself to be like a servant (Phil. 2:7-8), He was gentle (Matt.
11:29), and very patient (Rom. 2:4). Colossians 3:12-13 says: ‘You are the people of God; he loved you and
chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and
forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else.
You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you.’
‘But if we hope for what we
do not see, we wait for it with patience.’
Romans 8:25
Kayley
No comments:
Post a Comment