patience

Have Patience

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For those of you of a certain age, the title of this post triggered a musical memory for you. If you need a little more assistance, think of the words: Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry . . .” No? Moving on.

I confess that some days I have very little patience. I have what in this day and age could be referred to as a microwave mentality. I want what I want, not sooner or later but now. I think I am a product of this culture of instant gratification.

But I also confess that when it comes to patience I have a very short memory. I forget how patient God has been with me all this time. After all, it’s God’s infinite kindness that leads us to repentance. I am thankful that God is much more patient with me than I am with Him (or anybody else for that matter).

But isn’t that the very definition of love? The love chapter in 1 Corinthians starts off with “Love is patient.”

It’s first on the list of what love should look like. Maybe that’s because God who is the epitome of love is infinitely patient. Maybe that’s because we as His children are notoriously impatient. Either way, that’s the first place to start when you want to know what it means to love.

You begin not with striving in your own effort to be patient. You know how that goes. Remember how you try to pray for patience and immediately run into scenarios that cause you to lose your patience?

Patience begins with seeing how patient God has been with you and me. It’s remembering all the times God had every right to wipe us off the map but chose to wipe the slate of our sins clean. It’s recalling that God should have let us have it by pouring all His wrath on us but instead poured it on His Son Jesus instead and poured grace and mercy on us instead.

Lord, help us to live out the patience you have constantly and consistently demonstrated to us over our lives. May we always remember that you were not willing that we should perish but that we should have eternal life. May we be as patient to others as You have been to us. Amen.

The Process of Holiness

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“We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

I’m sure you’ve heard of the song about how everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die, right? Well, this one’s called “Everyone Wants to be Holy, but No One Wants to Pay the Price for It.”

Not quite as catchy. But most believers want to be like Jesus. At least most say they do, including me. But far fewer are willing to do what it takes. More accurately, far less are willing to submit to the process that God uses to shape us into holy people.

The process looks a lot like taking a block of stone and chiseling it into Michelangelo’s David. Or when a silversmith purifies silver by sticking it into red-hot flames. Or when God puts hard circumstances and unkind people into our lives to teach us perseverance and patience.

I want to be used by God, but I’m less keen on being battered into shape for it. I’d rather skip right to the usefulness part and skip all the unpleasant part about God molding me into somebody useful.

A lot of it has to do with perspective. The way I look at the interruptions, delays, inconveniences, and hardships in my life says a lot about where my maturity level is. If I see them as hindrances, then maybe I need to grow up a little more. If I see them as the hand of God shaping and guiding me toward a greater purpose, then I’m getting closer to becoming who God created me to be in the first place.

“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am” (Philippians 4:11-13, The Message).

An Evening Prayer

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“Lord, we come to You not because you are our last hope, but because You are our first love.

We’re not waiting to come to You only when we think there’s nothing else we can do. We’re coming to You *before we do anything at all* because waiting on You is *wisest* of all. We trust You to work all this out in Your good time — because that will be the best time, and You are only good and You hold all time. *Kneeling the most lets us stand the bravest.* Tonight we kneel and lay our painful problems in Your hands and thank You for the perfect peace You put in our hearts.

In Jesus’ name, Amen. #EveningPrayer#RestinginHisWord” (Ann Voskamp).

Lord, I confess that I only come to You when I need something. Often, You are my last resort. I acknowledge that when everything is going well, I simply don’t see my need for You. It’s only when life gets difficult and stressful that I finally manage to look up to You.

Thank You for being patient with me. You have shown me more mercy than I deserve. If You treated me the way I treat You most of the time, I probably wouldn’t be here. I’d definitely be a lot worse off than I am.

But Your word says that You are faithful even when I’m faithless. You continue to work in me even when I don’t work at all. You honor Your promise to complete what You started in me even when I make promises to You that I don’t keep.

I know that I can look back and see growth. I can see change. I can see that in the past, my lackadaisical faith wouldn’t have bothered me nearly as much as it does now. I can see that I am more committed to You than I was last year or in the last decade.

Lord, make me more like You. Period.

Patience & Wisdom

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Those are indeed two great and important qualities to possess. They’re also sorely lacking in much of the current environment where everything has to happen immediately and where most people react rather than respond.

In my own life, I’m tempted to try to get ahead of God instead of waiting on His timing. My problem is that I’m not seeing the whole picture from beginning to end and as part of the bigger story God is orchestrating involving all of creation and humanity. I just want what I want when I want it.

But good things come to those who wait. That might ring a bell for those of us who grew up listening to 80s CCM groups like Petra. But it’s also true. The song in question ends up saying so hurry up and wait upon the Lord. That’s also good advice.

Wisdom as I have learned is not mere accumulation of facts. Wisdom is knowledge applied to life. More precisely, wisdom is living God’s way. The Bible says that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom — not being afraid of God but having a reverential awe of Him (although we should understand that God owes us nothing and we owe Him everything).

Both together are essential. No one ever gets it perfectly 100% right in this life. We all fall short of complete patience and wisdom. But the closer we get as we get closer to God and God’s ways, the better off we are. The more we learn to walk in the way of the Rabbi who took the path to Calvary, the better our lives will be.

“Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time” (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living).

God Has No Deadlines

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“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves” (A.W. Tozer).

“Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says–‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ by the patience of faith. ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Oswald Chambers).

As I’ve probably said many times, I’m thankful that God is way more patient with me that I am with Him. I’m thankful that God doesn’t operate off my timetable or always grant me what I ask for when I ask for it. The reason is that usually the things I ask God for are 1) stupid, 2) things I’m not yet ready for, 3) me thinking small when God wants me to think bigger, 4) me thinking finite and earthly when God wants me to look through the lens of heaven and eternity, 5) me being myopic when God is seeing His whole plan throughout creation and history.

So, to remind myself once more: God’s timing is 1) not mine and 2) perfect.

In the Waiting

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I’ve never thought about it that way before. I suppose it could be a bit of a stretch to make a connection between waiting on God and working at a restaurant, but it works. When you wait tables at a restaurant, you wait for people to make up their minds on the menu. You wait on the kitchen to prepare the food for you to take to the tables. You wait on the people to finish their meals before you present them with the check.

But it’s not a passive waiting. The whole time, you’re serving. You’re bringing baskets of bread and drink refills. You’re always available to take food back to the kitchen if it’s not cooked right or if it’s the wrong order. You’re never sitting still while you’re waiting.

I think the same applies for waiting on God. Typically, God has revealed something to you that you then need to apply. In Hebrew, hearing and obeying come from the same word. In other words, you can’t hear from God apart from doing what He said. Part of waiting is obedience.

I think part of waiting is also making yourself ready to be used the moment God calls for you. That means you don’t have distractions or detours to keep you from responding to God’s call. As I mentioned before, maturity is the distance between God’s call and your ability to obey. Waiting is where you narrow that gap.

May we learn to wait well. May we learn to worship in the waiting as loudly as after the waiting is over, to sing the same way in the hallway as when we get to where God opens the door to the fulfillment of His promises. Then the waiting will have been worth it.

More Like Jesus

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More purity give me;
More strength to over-come;
More freedom from earth-stains;
More longings for home;
More fit for the kingdom;
More used would I be;
More blessed and holy;
More, Saviour, like Thee” (Phillip P. Bliss).

Sometimes, I think the reason that I’m not more like Jesus is that I’m not willing to do whatever it takes to look more like Jesus. Sure, I pray that God would conform me into the image of His Son, but when that process starts, it looks a lot like stuff I don’t like.

When my job position got eliminated, maybe that was God’s answer to my prayer to look more like Jesus. When I was having trouble with my old Jeep and wondering why it kept breaking down and leaking, maybe God was molding me.

If it were up to me, I’d never have to deal with anything stressful or uncomfortable. I’d go from strength to strength, from comfort to comfort. And at the end of the day, I’d look a lot less like Jesus and a lot more like the old me.

Thankfully, God didn’t ask for my permission before He began chiseling away at the sharp edges and the abrasive angles and the rough patches in me. I’m grateful God loves me as I am but won’t let me stay that way.

The old analogy is perfect. It’s like I’m the arrow that God is aiming at the target and He keeps pulling and stretching sometimes beyond what I can endure, but still He goes on pulling and stretching. He waits until I am perfectly centered on the target that only He can see, then He lets loose.

You never really think about archery from the perspective of the arrow. At least I normally don’t. But God does. Every single trial, every single set-back, every single disappointment is God preparing you for a future that only He can see and a destiny that only He knows.

And one day it will all have been worth it. You will look back and see that everything worked out beautifully and had you known what God knew all along, you would have chosen exactly the same all over again.

Trust Yourself in God’s Hands

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“Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says–‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands” (Oswald Chambers).

This came up in my Timehop from something I posted a few years ago. I’d say it’s still just as true and relevant now as it was back then.

Take heart and know that waiting on God is always worth the wait, no matter how long it takes.

 

Nothing to Report Here

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I’m enjoying a very low-key Saturday night. I’m hanging out with three very sleepy dogs in the Bellevue area of West Nashville. I’m actually having a little trouble keeping my eyes open. Such the party scene this is.

I love dog-sitting. I love dogs, too, even though I am a self-professed cat person. I don’t believe you should have to choose one or the other. Both cats and dogs can be very loving and affectionate in their own ways.

The best part of all is that moment when you win an animal’s trust and a bond is formed. I tend to think that goes for people as well.

All it takes is patience and kindness. Both of those go a long way in just about every situation you find yourself in. Just patience and kindness.

I think social media could stand a little more patience and kindness, but that’s a topic that will have to wait for another day.

Patience and Kindness

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When it comes to dog-sitting, the most valuable asset you have isn’t necessarily how knowledgeable you are about all things canine. It isn’t how much training or experience you have.

For me, the two most important assets are patience and kindness. Those two things can win over most dogs.

I think that goes for most people as well. In any relationship, you almost never go wrong by exhibiting patience and kindness, remembering that it was God’s own patience and kindness that won you in the first place.

The last place I dog-sat, I remember how two of the dogs used to be so afraid of me. One would bark at me almost nonstop and the other would run from me. Now, both of them love me and are quite affectionate toward me.

Was it any extraordinary skill of mine? No. It was that one-two combination of patience and kindness.

Remember that when you’re dealing with someone who’s difficult or who drives you to distraction. A little patience and kindness goes a long way. Mix in some empathy and understanding and you can find an enemy becoming a friend. Of course, above all you need the love of God in you to flow through you, but that patience and kindness is key.

That’s my mantra for the night– patience and kindness. Patience and kindness.

Try it out sometimes.