Patience

They say patience is a virtue. More importantly, it is a fruit of the spirit.

I think patience is incredibly hard in our fast-paced "me" society. We want what we want and we want it now. We have high-speed internet, smart phones, hand-held computers, high-tech automobiles, lots of cool technological gadgets and gizmos, etc..., etc..., etc...

I think as Christians, we often under value patience. We joke that we need more of it, but I think we fail to realize how damaging our impatience can be on others. The person of weak faith or weak conscience who we see us as impatient can so easily transfer that onto God and believe God must be impatient with them as well. And so inadvertently, we have instilled a wrong message of who God is through our impatience.

The same can be said when we don't show love, compassion, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, etc...

The more Christians a person encounters who shows them impatience, the more they form this negative, unbiblical view of who God is.

Now we're not perfect, but it's not right to get mad at the person by telling them that we're not perfect. Explain it with love and patience and ask their forgiveness when we've been impatient with them. I think I'll talk about forgiveness tomorrow.