Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Patience

Be patient, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2).

One of the greatest blessings God gives us is His patience. In the Old Testament, God gave His people unambiguous laws to live by; yet no matter how clearly God spelled out His expectations for human behavior, even the most faithful believers still broke the law repeatedly. Over and over again, we see examples of God being patient, threatening His people with punishment for sin but then giving them a great deal of time to repent and change their ways. In the New Testament, we see God’s great patience given flesh in Jesus; instead of giving up on us for being habitual offenders, God placed His own Son on trial and executed Him on the cross for our crimes—all this to give us another opportunity to exchange love of sin for love of God. Peter writes, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

In Ephesians Paul tells us, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Patience is essential for healthy relationships. All of us are sinners; all of us say and do things that are unthinking, inconsiderate, and hurtful. Without patience, these kinds of sin lead to broken friendships, runaway children, and divorce. We can be grateful that God works hard at trying to teach us patience; He often does this by making us wait before answering our prayers.

Patience does not see other people as obstacles to be overcome. Rather, patience is willing to work with others because it respects all people as children of God who have dignity and worth. A patient Christian does not insist on having his own way at the expense of others. The patient person tries to solve problems peacefully; he will not intimidate others or work around them to get the outcome that he wants.

Patient Christians are willing to endure another person’s sin and offer forgiveness for the sake of peace. Those who are patient offer mercy even to the unrepentant, as Christ did on the cross when He prayed for those who were executing Him: Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). The apostle Peter writes, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). The only way we can avoid conflict is by being patient with each other. Patient love is the basis of all relationships because it covers over a multitude of sins, just as Christ’s patient love has done for us.

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