"Patience is a virtue" - we have all heard it and we have all loathed hearing it at one time or another. Patience is not a quality that fits well in our culture today. Life moves to fast - it's like paying cash and waiting for change, while everyone else just swipes their card and goes. Yes, like the Visa commercial. Nevertheless, there is some truth to that marketing message. The theme is no longer a matter of I want it now to pay for it later, the theme is focused on I want it NOW!!! Period! The issue is no longer instant gratification, with the stress on gratification, the inflection now belongs on "instant".
When I take my mindset, warped by our culture's concept of time, and attempt to fit it around the Genesis story of Joseph and his twelve or thirteen years in prison for something he did not do, it cannot be done. My mind just will not register that kind of patience. I would like for it to. But nope.....not a part of what I know to be my character.
The question then becomes, is it a part of my Christ-like character? The new character being constructed in me, in all of us, as we grow in our relationship to Christ. I know what the "old" me would do, but what about the "new" me. Would I be able to see through the fog and remember:
"...The LORD was with (me) and shows (me) steadfast love." (Gen. 39:21)
"...God intended it for good.." (Gen. 50:20)
"...If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." (Matthew 5:41)
"Consider Christ...so that you may not grow weary or lose heart." (Heb. 12:3)
And finally...
"May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father..." (Col. 1:11-12a)
Father Spirit, may it be!
When I take my mindset, warped by our culture's concept of time, and attempt to fit it around the Genesis story of Joseph and his twelve or thirteen years in prison for something he did not do, it cannot be done. My mind just will not register that kind of patience. I would like for it to. But nope.....not a part of what I know to be my character.
The question then becomes, is it a part of my Christ-like character? The new character being constructed in me, in all of us, as we grow in our relationship to Christ. I know what the "old" me would do, but what about the "new" me. Would I be able to see through the fog and remember:
"...The LORD was with (me) and shows (me) steadfast love." (Gen. 39:21)
"...God intended it for good.." (Gen. 50:20)
"...If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." (Matthew 5:41)
"Consider Christ...so that you may not grow weary or lose heart." (Heb. 12:3)
And finally...
"May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father..." (Col. 1:11-12a)
Father Spirit, may it be!
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment