Patiently impatient
How patient are you? I’ll admit that patience is one of my biggest weaknesses and that it’s taken years of refinement from God. I have leared to wait, but I’ll admit that I still get “impatient trying to be patient.” I’m patiently impatient.
I was thinking about how God develops patience in all of us often through challenging situations that bring our impatience to the surface. It’s been almost two weeks on the mission field (a huge change for us) and I have found myself in situations that have stretched me and that have challenged my patience. For instance:
We’ve lost water and electricity now for separate 24-hour periods.
Our car has overheated a handful of times.
Our brand new washer broke after 4 days of use.
A trip that should have taken 30 minutes took 90 minutes sitting in traffic.
Everyday stuff right? But so frustrating trying to do life when things don’t go the way you thought they should go. I’m patiently impatient.
However, my experiences in life (which makes me feel old writing that) have shown me that most of us, especially in our Westernized world aren’t much different. Let’s shoot straight for a moment; most of us are pretty impatient. We get impatient with other people when our latte is not made right, when our internet is not fast enough, or the person we are in a relationship with hasn’t “gotten over it” the way we wanted. We may want to grow in patience, but we live patiently impatient.
As followers of Jesus, we get impatient with God as well when he doesn’t answer us in the way or timing we like. “God, why haven’t you taken this addiction completely from me? God, what’s with my money being so tight all of the time? God, I don’t understand when there is no healing in this friendship. God, would you please do this ___________ (insert your demand of God right there) in my life right away.” We live patiently impatient with the God who created us and who loves us unconditionally.
What most of us are learning in our impatience is that God is working and moving and doing things in us to make us more like his Son Jesus. However, let’s look at another angle when it comes to patience. Paul says it this way:
But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16
Paul is talking about the incredible mercy and love and patience that God has shown over his life. It’s limitless and an endless supply even though he ran from God and rebelled against God. His life is a demonstration of God’s unending patience!
Then Paul also gives us some real-life application. If we pay attention to how we live, our lives too can speak of the great mercy and patience that God has with us. Living with God’s mercy and patience in our daily lives is what people see and feel and it’s what draws them to Jesus. It’s what helps them “realize” that they can have life in Jesus too.
In other words, how you respond sitting in traffic, speaks something. How you interact with your friends online that have a different political bent, that speaks something. How you treat someone who has hurt you, that speaks something. The ultimate goal is that our lives speak the truth of Jesus. How we respond to people and situations has the potential to show people Jesus and his great love and patience for us.
The question is this; “Is your life speaking of the great patience that Jesus has for you or is it speaking something else?”
Steve
