What Is IN God's Love? - Patience

We can possess better patience when we realize that most people are doing the best they can, especially when we consider all the factors that have made them who they are. Then even if they could do better, you probably can't force that to happen, and why would you want to?

 

 

 

For instance, your one year old is crawling and maybe even beginning to walk. She has the innate desire to explore and so she touches everything that is on her level. No matter if it could possibly hurt her, she will touch it anyway.

 

 

This is but one of a mixture of reasons she does this…and one does not need to go to college to know what they are. She is not only driven by her age, but she is also driven by her inborn temperament and personality…but with no practical knowledge to temper her exploration. Grasping this understanding makes it easier to have patience with her. However, sometimes we still get agitated and impatient until we practice keeping these very important facts in mind...that essentially, she is doing the best she can.

 

 

Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.

Proverbs 2:2 Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.　

Take a minute and think about the natural world around us. God's creation is another place to gain great insight as well. Look at a kangaroo for instance when you take your children to the zoo. Can it walk? No, at least not in the conventional sense. Kangaroos hop. Their legs cannot move independently of one another, so expecting kangaroos to walk or run like you and I would be ludicrous.

 

 

 

This gives a zoo keeper, for instance, all the patience in the world when trying to lead them from one place to another. He knows that this animal has fixed limits that cannot change, so getting impatient would be a waste of time and energy. Therefore, having this very basic knowledge gives him something very valuable and attainable - patience. This in turn leads to a more enjoyable experience as he works with these unique creatures.

 

 

God commands that we love...and patience is the first ingredient. (See 1 Cor. 13:4) Being patient with others shows them Christ...and it comes much easier with the understanding that most people are doing the best they can with what they have. ~

 

 

 

In fact this is why God is able to have such patience with us...and why He wanted us to taste, but not permanently stay trying to live up to the law -- because the law had zero patience...whereas Christ has immeasurable patience!  Likewise why He wants us to emulate Christ so we can better obey His command to treat others as we would want others to treat us.

 

God understands that we are doing the best we can with what we have, this is why He has such patience with us ~

 

Psalm 103: 14 For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.

Romans 7: 8 I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don't do it. 19I don't do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don't want to do. 20Now, when I do what I don't want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it. 21So I've discovered this truth: Evil is present with me even when I want to do what God's standards say is good. 22I take pleasure in God's standards in my inner being.

 

 

 

 

23However, I see a different standard [at work] throughout my body. It is at war with the standards my mind sets and tries to take me captive to sin's standards which still exist throughout my body. 24What a miserable person I am! Who will rescue me from my dying body? 25I thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ rescues me! So I am obedient to God's standards with my mind, but I am obedient to sin's standards with my corrupt nature.

 

Romans 9: 22 If God wants to demonstrate his anger and reveal his power, he can do it. But can't he be extremely patient with people who are objects of his anger because they are headed for destruction? 23Can't God also reveal the riches of his glory to people who are objects of his mercy and who he had already prepared for glory? 24This is what God did for us whom he called-whether we are Jews or not.

God wants us to be patient not only based on His command to do so, but also based on our understanding that most people are doing the best they can ~ as well as the understanding that when we are showing impatience it is usually because there is some demand we've made of another that was not met...meaning that they really had no choice as far as you were concerned. So impatience is many times brought on because we are only thinking of our own wants, as well as expecting that others should be and act like us...and not treating others in the same way we would want to be treated.

 

1 Cor. 9:22 When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.

 

 

Romans 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

 

 

Romans 14:1 Welcome people who are weak in faith (patience), but don't get into an argument over differences of opinion. (impatience)