There are two meanings to the word patience and I believe that both are aspects of what a perfect Christian life should look like. The first meaning that I am going to look into is that of the quality of being able to wait for long periods of time without becoming annoyed. We are used to having to wait now as part of our daily life. We have to wait for people who we’ve arranged to meet, we have to wait for public transport and we have to wait for special occasions like Christmas or a birthday or even a long looked forward to holiday. We get impatient because we don’t want to wait; we want the person, bus, birthday or holiday to arrive right now. This though is foolish. If we went through life rushing past all the times of waiting we would miss out on almost our whole lives! This point was illustrated in the movie Click (which I haven’t actually seen) where a man is given a remote control that gives him the power to pause time, fast forward it or even rewind it. He uses it to fast forward through all the difficult moments of his life during which time he is present but not conscious of his actions, his body is on auto pilot. He finds that his life becomes a big mess because he didn’t want to actually spend his time working through difficulty. In the same way we can’t skip all the bad bits these are the moments when God grows us the most. In adversity all our attention is on him and we join with the psalmist in asking ‘How long Lord?’ but like the psalmists and countless people of faith in the past we can take comfort from our own past experiences where we can see how God has always supported us through times of difficulty and lead us into times of more joyful living. There is a good side to that impatience though because it is a kind of longing. Longing to see justice done on the Earth and longing to see people know Jesus are great things and will spur us on to action. What I am warning against is getting angry at God when the world isn’t brought to justice and all the people we know aren’t saved tomorrow. This is part of the second part of the meaning of patience. We can see that they do in fact fit quite nicely together.
Control of our temper is what is also known as forbearance. I used to think I had this in spades but actually since writing this blog I have realised that I too am weak in this area, this is true of all of us I think. We may think there is nothing that can nettle us but there is always something or someone that can really get on our nerves. For me my brothers can easily make me lose my cool. This is because they actually love me and know me so well that it is easy for them to pinpoint the area that I am most sensitive about. My weakest area is probably the pride I have in myself. Any jibe on my abilities or appearance or for that matter anything relating to myself will kindle some anger in me. This pride in me is the opposite of what Christ teaches. He teaches us to have a realistic view of ourselves and the reality of who we are is nothing to be proud of “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. We are only found to be someone of standing in our relationship with Christ, so… "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." Jeremiah 9:24 in many other passages throughout the Bible the foolishness of pride is spoken of as severely damaging and God promises time and again in prophecies to bring down those who have exalted themselves in their pride. I can see clearly that I have nothing to have pride in except all that God has blessed me with. This is the key to forbearance. That our security, our personality, our character is so wrapped up in God that no one can hope to damage it with mere words. As with the whole of the fruit of the Spirit it actually requires us spending time with God in prayer and in studying his word then God will highlight our weakest points and he will ask us ever so kindly to give them up to him, what possible use could we have for them? They do us way more harm than good. Then little by little (it is a long hard road) We will lose our insecurities about our appearance, I have bid farewell to the insecurities I had about the size of my head but now new ones have arisen about the state of my skin but God his helping me to deal with those too. We also lose the pride in our abilities, that need we have for people to recognise how gifted we are in an area. We find that we can recognise the changes he is effecting in us, we’ll grow closer and closer to him and soon the approval of other people won’t matter to us anymore. When we have reached that stage we can be happy to know we have truly grasped what it is to be patient whenever others slight us whether intentionally or unintentionally.
What I have found recently that through spending quality time with God I have a clearer sense of what heaven will be like. I feel an overwhelming sense of joy erupt within me followed by a deep peace and knowledge that I am loved. I realise that whatever I feel or understand here is only the smallest taste of the true enormity and eternity of heaven. I think the times when life on Earth becomes really tough are the times I long for heaven, I find myself longing to be there now and to find relief from all my pain. I know that it is in some way a selfish desire because we whose places in heaven are guaranteed remain here for the benefit of those who don’t have a place as yet. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be with our God though because he longs to draw us to himself like a mother gathering her children he tells us so in his word. What makes heaven so perfect is the very presence of God for all eternity. In longing for heaven I am really longing to know my God to the fullest extent possible and I think we should all have this same impatience for heaven.
Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
Control of our temper is what is also known as forbearance. I used to think I had this in spades but actually since writing this blog I have realised that I too am weak in this area, this is true of all of us I think. We may think there is nothing that can nettle us but there is always something or someone that can really get on our nerves. For me my brothers can easily make me lose my cool. This is because they actually love me and know me so well that it is easy for them to pinpoint the area that I am most sensitive about. My weakest area is probably the pride I have in myself. Any jibe on my abilities or appearance or for that matter anything relating to myself will kindle some anger in me. This pride in me is the opposite of what Christ teaches. He teaches us to have a realistic view of ourselves and the reality of who we are is nothing to be proud of “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. We are only found to be someone of standing in our relationship with Christ, so… "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." Jeremiah 9:24 in many other passages throughout the Bible the foolishness of pride is spoken of as severely damaging and God promises time and again in prophecies to bring down those who have exalted themselves in their pride. I can see clearly that I have nothing to have pride in except all that God has blessed me with. This is the key to forbearance. That our security, our personality, our character is so wrapped up in God that no one can hope to damage it with mere words. As with the whole of the fruit of the Spirit it actually requires us spending time with God in prayer and in studying his word then God will highlight our weakest points and he will ask us ever so kindly to give them up to him, what possible use could we have for them? They do us way more harm than good. Then little by little (it is a long hard road) We will lose our insecurities about our appearance, I have bid farewell to the insecurities I had about the size of my head but now new ones have arisen about the state of my skin but God his helping me to deal with those too. We also lose the pride in our abilities, that need we have for people to recognise how gifted we are in an area. We find that we can recognise the changes he is effecting in us, we’ll grow closer and closer to him and soon the approval of other people won’t matter to us anymore. When we have reached that stage we can be happy to know we have truly grasped what it is to be patient whenever others slight us whether intentionally or unintentionally.
What I have found recently that through spending quality time with God I have a clearer sense of what heaven will be like. I feel an overwhelming sense of joy erupt within me followed by a deep peace and knowledge that I am loved. I realise that whatever I feel or understand here is only the smallest taste of the true enormity and eternity of heaven. I think the times when life on Earth becomes really tough are the times I long for heaven, I find myself longing to be there now and to find relief from all my pain. I know that it is in some way a selfish desire because we whose places in heaven are guaranteed remain here for the benefit of those who don’t have a place as yet. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be with our God though because he longs to draw us to himself like a mother gathering her children he tells us so in his word. What makes heaven so perfect is the very presence of God for all eternity. In longing for heaven I am really longing to know my God to the fullest extent possible and I think we should all have this same impatience for heaven.
Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.
Pslam 37
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
Phillipians 1
21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.
1 comment:
excellent post! And who can resist that blog title? ;-)
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