Patience is easy, until it is tested

There were some great lines in the movie Bruce Almighty and a great piece about prayer. It went something along the lines of, “When you pray for patience, does God give you patience or an opportunity to be patient?” This wasn’t the exact quote but this was the point of it. Prayer can just be words but sometimes it requires action. Paul spends the last chunk of scripture in 1 Thessalonians talking about how the church should be living with each other.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-15…

“And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.”

While this does focus for the church itself, it is practical for anyone in or outside the church. Now inside the church, I have been apart of some churches that do a great job with this and I have been apart of some church that have not. I love going to Maryland Community Church and feel like this is one of the best churches I have been apart of when it comes to living in community with one another. It’s something all Christians are called to do and not just as leaders. As attenders of a church ask yourself…

·      Are you warning those not accomplishing what they are supposed to do?

·      Who have you encouraged lately? When?

·      Who have you helped? When?

·      How and when have you shown patience in the church or with church attenders?

·      How have you kept peace in the church?

I mentioned “when” because we might have done this once, but it could have happened a while ago. If we are living in the church this needs to be a frequent occasion. Paul really hits the church hard with this because as believers in Jesus, we are called to live for him in our life. If you are outside the church, this is what the church is supposed to be about. If you have had a bad experience with a church, I am sorry, please give church a try again. Churches are full of sinners and are far from perfect. I hope you can find a church that is a good fit for you.

We are called to care for one another, how can you do that today?

Have a great day.

Choosing your personality like choosing the clothes you wear

Confession time: I have no style. Clothes, style and I do not mix. Anybody who knew me in high school knew I didn’t where jeans. I mostly wore jogging pants and baggy t-shirts. It was not a style anybody repeated. I choose to wear what was comfortable and sometimes ugly at times. Some of the pants where really cheap and made an swoosh sound as I walked. A couple of my friends would say you know when Joel was coming because you could hear the swoosh. Life is full of choices.

We choose what clothes we where and we can choose what personalities we show. Paul talks about different qualities we can choose to have or cloth ourselves with in Colossians 3:12-14…

“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. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Choose the right attribute for your life. Paul talked about compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. The word bear in the original Greek scripture means to be patient with or to have patience in the sense of enduring possibility. When becoming a Christian, we are told what we can wear in regards to different characteristics. It’s our choice what clothes we wear just like it’s our choice what we choose to show to other people. We have the choice to show these different traits.

Instead of focusing on clothes you want to wear or what you are wearing focus on what traits you choose to show. We have the ability to show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. Today, what is a trait you can focus on? How can you show people this today?

Have a great day.

Over 100 and finding out your wife is pregnant

It’s easy to have faith when everything goes your way. When you score the game winning touchdown, do well on a test or get that raise at work, it’s easy to say, “Thank you God!” What about when the opposite happens?

When things are bad can you still worship God? When a relative dies, you can’t play a sport due to bad grades or you find out you are sicker then you thought? Can you still praise and have faith in God?

I have friends that have struggled through fertility issues. It’s always rough to see people who would be great parents not get that chance. When you have been blessed not to have issues and people close to you have issues, it’s tough. I have friends that have stayed strong in faith and I have seen friends turn their back on their faith. For those you know with fertility issues look at the story of Abraham and Sarah.

These were two people that were outcast because they couldn’t have kids. Kids are looked at as a blessing of God and it was ten times true back in the Old Testament times. You had God’s favor when you were able to have kids. If you didn’t have kids, God must be mad at you. So people looked down on Abraham and Sarah. It drove them crazy to see everyone around them pregnant and they were not. God did promise a kid, but it was on his timing not theirs. They could turn their backs on their faith or grow stronger in it.

During the bad times, you can get down or stay faithful. Abraham chose to stay faithful during this tough time, Romans 4:20-22…

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Abraham knew God was going to come through for him and even while he was around 100, he still trusted God. God did eventually bless what today would be great grandparents with their first child. Sarah was pregnant.

Faith in God allowed Abraham to receive his blessing. If everything happened the way you wanted it to and in your timing, would you learn anything or need to have faith? It’s easy to praise God when life is going your way, its tough when things aren’t going smooth. Have faith during the tough times. There is a God who loves you and wants the best for you. Grow through the tough times. No athlete gets anything handed to them, they have to work hard at it. There are times faith will be easy and hard. You go through the hard times and that will make you appreciate the good times even more.

Stay strong, have faith in Jesus to come through. Grow and learn through the tough times and just like Abraham you can have a great blessing in the end. Trust in Jesus.

Have a great day.