“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”-Colossians 3:12-13 (This verse will be referenced a lot during this series)
Friends, I want to speak to you like you’re my best friend, sister, and even my brother. Treat this post like a precious letter (I LOVE LETTERS BY THE WAY!!! 🙂 ) I’m very excited for this blog series because I know that God is going to reveal many things about having a Godly character.
When you look around in this world, what do you see? I’m sure you see many honest people walking around, right? Nope. How about people filled with joy and a smile on their face? Yeah, didn’t think so. Do you see people standing up for others? Uh, sometimes. But it’s not something that you see everyday. Lets be honest, our world is messed up and turned upside down. I long to see a person of character to walk past me. I am mostly surrounded by self seeking people who strive to get ahead of life by doing the unthinkable to their friends, coworkers, and family members.
In Webster, character is defined as:
1) one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual
2) moral excellence and firmness <a man of sound character>
Let’s talk about patience.
Something that I struggle with is patience. When I come home to visit my folks, I feel as though they mustered up a list of things to do the very second I leave their house. Most of the things that they want me to do includes the computer. Teaching my folks to use a computer is like teaching a rhino how to ride a unicycle. NOT POSSIBLE. My mom always has a notepad with her when I’m explaining how to attach a picture to a email. She always seems to lose her notes and we are back to square one. My patience level with my parents is very short. I feel horrible when I get irritated with them because I feel as though they don’t listen to me.
Sometimes with my friends I can get irritated. I try not to reveal my irritation but after awhile I just can’t hold it in. Gosh, I have a problem with patience.
Sometimes with the Lord I lose patience. “God, why am I (fill in problem). It’s been 5 months! Are you listening to me?!” As Christians, we are in the limelight. We tweet about patience and putting our trust in the Lord, but when it comes to actually being patient it can non-existent (seriously, been there, done that).
“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”-Romans 8:25
I admire those who wait patiently for things. I desire to be patient just how God is patient with us (we are so screwed up, rude, lovers of the world, etc. yet He is patient). Psalms 86:15 says, “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Yep, with my folks I am not slow to anger but extremely fast.
Friends, we are made in God’s image. We’ve been called to be different (I say this ALL the time). Patience with those who don’t know Christ is extremely important. It’s important that they see patience in us because they will see the patience of God. It’s hard waiting to see change in people, especially when it deals with their walk in Christ. Let’s be patient with them. God is Sovereign and is in control of EVERYTHING. We seriously have no control of His plans.
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”-Ephesians 4:1-3
What a beautiful character it is to have a Godly character of patience. Patience is something practiced and then repeated. It’s a habit that has to be created and once it’s mastered it will come as second nature. If you want a patient character (like me), we have to cooperate with God because He wants to give us this character.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 1:6
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them– every day begin the task anew.” – Francis de Sales
--by their fruit-- 