There's a verse in the Bible that troubles me. It is 1 Thessalonians 5:14 and reads the following:
But that handy little loophole isn't there. And that is because God doesn't give loopholes. He calls sin sin. In our selfish hearts, we'd like to think impatience a sin hardly worth mentioning. Everyone loses their patience now and then, we tell ourselves, and besides, some people are absolutely impossible to be patient with. Uh-uh. Impatience at any time with any person, despite your mood or the person annoying you, is sin. It is vile before a holy God, and He demands that we rid ourselves of it, destroy it, cut it from our lives or bear the consequences. You've heard the saying, "Patience is a virtue." Well, it's more than that. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, a necessary result of holy living in the Christian life. (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:2; Proverbs 16:32; Colossians 3:12) That doesn't mean we're never going to get impatient. We're sinners. We still sin. But the blood of Jesus has covered that sin, and so we can repent before our Father in heaven, and He will forgive us.
So let's practice patience with everyone and not forget that it was God who first showed patience with us, saving us, so that we can show patience to others.
"And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone."It's not the first part that troubles me. The irresponsible must be warned. Of course you ought to comfort the discouraged, and helping the weak is a given. But be patient with everyone? Now that's troubling. You and I both know that there are some people that are just difficult to be patient with. And there are some days we don't feel like being patient. What my sinful heart would like to see in this verse is, "Warn those who are irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with those who are kind and nice and will never do anything to upset you or tick you off in any way." Wouldn't that be nice?
But that handy little loophole isn't there. And that is because God doesn't give loopholes. He calls sin sin. In our selfish hearts, we'd like to think impatience a sin hardly worth mentioning. Everyone loses their patience now and then, we tell ourselves, and besides, some people are absolutely impossible to be patient with. Uh-uh. Impatience at any time with any person, despite your mood or the person annoying you, is sin. It is vile before a holy God, and He demands that we rid ourselves of it, destroy it, cut it from our lives or bear the consequences. You've heard the saying, "Patience is a virtue." Well, it's more than that. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, a necessary result of holy living in the Christian life. (Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 4:2; Proverbs 16:32; Colossians 3:12) That doesn't mean we're never going to get impatient. We're sinners. We still sin. But the blood of Jesus has covered that sin, and so we can repent before our Father in heaven, and He will forgive us.
So let's practice patience with everyone and not forget that it was God who first showed patience with us, saving us, so that we can show patience to others.