The Seed of Hope

...about patience.

A virtue may be defined as, among other things, a conformity to a standard of right, moral excellence, and a commendable quality or trait. Obviously, a virtue, while not easily attained, is worth having. In other words, it is a good thing to be virtuous!

Patience is a virtue. If you were born with patience, consider yourself to be blessed. If, on the other hand, you’re like the majority of us, you know that patience is indeed a virtue that requires constant attention, self control, re-programming our reactions to situations, and plenty of prayer. Come to think of it, even our attempts and intentions to develop patience require a lot of patience!

Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22 that patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. If you seek to walk with the Holy Spirit, to be Spirit-filled, patience will grow in you.

What’s that? Why should you be patient?

Remember the time that you lost your patience and jumped to a conclusion before you knew all the facts and really went off on that person, only to find out that you got it all wrong, reacted too quickly, and wound up offering a lame apology for your actions?

Or that time when you just blew up over nothing and acted like a real jerk?

Or the day that you were really mad at God because His timetable didn’t agree with yours, but you wouldn’t say it out loud because you didn’t want Him to know what you were thinking? (Catch the humor in that one?)

Now, be honest. You remember those times, don’t you? And after each instance, didn’t you feel kind of foolish? That’s probably because, truth be told, you acted like a fool!

One who is patient has great understanding,

   But one who is quick-tempered displays folly.  Proverbs 14:29 The Message

Now don’t go jumping to the conclusion that being more patient will make you smarter, because it won’t. Patience will, as the Proverb tells us, give you understanding.

Patience will allow you to think rationally in a potentially volatile situation. Patience will give you more insight into the behavior of other people. Patience will allow you to see the Love of the Father in everyone. Patience will spare you the embarrassment of acting like a jerk. Patience will allow you to be filled with God’s Grace. And patience will ease the frustration of waiting for God’s plans for you to unfold.  

Here’s the thing. As you read earlier, patience is a virtue, and virtues don’t come easily. If you’ll make a commitment to be more patient and ask God to help you, it’ll come. It may take some time, but patience will begin to grow in you. As it does, you’ll find that something else is growing in you as well.

Peace.

Holding on...

“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,

          I’ll get you out of any trouble.” Psalm 90:14 The Message

Notice that God doesn’t advise us to turn to Him, or to merely pray to Him in times of trouble, but to hold on to Him for dear life. His promise carries a sense of urgency, doesn’t it?

Think about it for a moment…

Have you experienced days when a problem or circumstance was so overwhelming that you couldn’t imagine it coming to a favorable end? What did you do? Pray a lot? Tremble in fear? Get sick to your stomach? Pretend that it didn’t exist? Wait for it to solve itself? Turn to a friend?

Through it all, did you cling to God, knowing that He would deliver you from whatever it was? Was your faith in Him strong enough to turn only to Him? Did you really believe that He’d get you out of it?

Actually, God promises us much more than simply getting us out of trouble. And to receive it, all that we need do is to know Him and trust in Him.

“I’ll give you the best of care

          if only you’ll get to know and trust me.

Call me and I’ll answer; be at your side in bad times;

          I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.

I’ll give you a long life,

          give you a long drink of salvation.” Psalm 90:15-16

Okay, could you pick anyone better suited to take care of you than God? Not only does He promise to care for us, but to give us the best of care! What more can we ask for?

But wait. It gets even better!

Not only will He get us out of trouble, give us the best of care, answer when we call, and be with us during bad times, but He’ll also rescue us and throw us a party when He’s done!

What’s that? You say that you’re kinda doubtful about the party? Check this out.

Every time that we hold on to God for dear life, and every time that we call out to Him, and every time that He delivers us from our troubles and rescues us, and every time that He picks us up off the ground so that we may continue on our journey, and every time we stand victorious because with God’s help we’ve overcome any obstacle before us…

Heaven celebrates! Every time.

Getting in.

Getting into heaven isn’t that complicated, you know? You accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, follow the Ten Commandments as best that you can, and go to church every Sunday, and you’re in, right?

If that’s the case, then why did Jesus advise us that there’s something else we must do to get in?

People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Luke 18:15-17 The Message

Why do think that God wants us to accept His Kingdom in such a simplistic manner? Why should we view God’s Kingdom through the eyes, and with the mind of a child?

Let’s answer these questions with a few questions and answers.

Who does a child turn to for provision all of his necessities? Daddy

Who does a child look to for protection? Daddy

Who does a child look to for, well, for everything? Daddy

As we grow up, we learn to be, and in fact are encouraged to be, more independent. We’re prompted to think for ourselves, to take care of ourselves, to provide for ourselves, and to protect ourselves. It’s the natural progression of things, right?

Yes, but not when it comes to our relationship to God. In fact, what we’re called to do in our walk with Jesus is contrary to our walk in life!

Check this out: It’s when we view God through the eyes of a child, and when we surrender our lives to Him, and when we look to Him as being Daddy and in doing so look to Him for everything, that He becomes more than a God in a religion book, or in a building called a church, or in the hearts of other people. It’s when he becomes Daddy God; a God who is larger than life. A God who performs miracles. A God that provides, and sustains, and protects, and forgives, and loves his children. He becomes a God who is real, and He comes alive in our hearts.

Then following those Ten Commandments isn’t something that we have to do, but get to do. And we go to church, not because we have to, but because we want to. And we accept Jesus, not because we’re told to, but because he is in our hearts.

And the part about entering God’s Kingdom? You can count on getting in.