I had a moment this week, just yesterday as a matter of fact where I allowed myself to not be patient with others. In not being understanding, not being patient I found myself caught in the
trap of complaining, judging, gossiping and really did not imitate Jesus at all.
Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
We are in the process of having our ingroun
d swimming pool retiled. We have been waiting several weeks for them to finally be able to come and do this job. The two men have been showing up later than I expected and yesterday left after one hour of work to come back almost 4 hours later. On the surface my frustration would be understandable. We even called the company to ask what was going on. I definitely was not being humble or gentle.
So, what is the problem? Well the part of the story that really brought home why God said to be patient with others, it is a father and son that is doing this work. The 78 year old father had started having some chest pains from working in the heat and the 57 year old son had taken him home to get out of the Oklahoma summer temps. No one had communicated this with us so we had no idea what was going on. Naturally if we had known we would have been more understanding. Right? Why do we need that information to just be humble and gentle? Why didn't we just assume the best instead of the worst?
As humans we are selfish and we only think of ourselves. It is all humans. We get very consumed with our own outcomes that we forget to pay attention to the needs of others. We see so much bad and the media does not help. However, God said to walk by faith and not by sight. If we are going to walk in patience we have to give others the same grace we want God to give us.
In my moment of being short on patience I committed several sins, gossiping, complaining, judging among others. This is an opportunity to reflect and then repent. Have you snapped at someone this week? Have you been short with your mother, your husband, maybe even a stranger at the store? Apologize where you need to apologize, be kind instead of being short with others, give someone grace this week or just stop to take a deep breath. It all will work out in the end. Let us all practice patience this week.
James 5:8
You also must be patie
nt. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord’s coming is near.
Let's Pray:
Father God we repent of being selfish and thinking only of ourselves. Forgive us Lord where we have missed it with other people. We repent of not be patient and just waiting in you Lord. Lord we ask that as we go forward that you help us to grow in the spirit with patience. Increase us with patience Lord so that we may exalt you among other people. As we show others grace and patience Lord we pray that you would be glorified. In Jesus name Amen.
Comments