Believe 26 - Paitence Series

Believe 26 — Patience

May 17, 2015

Friday is my day to finish writing my sermon. I often go out for coffee and a bagel, put on headphones and start writing. This past Friday, I went to see a member of the church who was in the hospital near Castleton Mall. No, I didn’t shop. But I went to one of my old favorite places to write my sermon. We used to go to Einstein Bros. when we lived in Michigan. It’s like Panera.

I ordered my bagel, got my cup for coffee. Walked over to the coffee pot and the dark roast was empty. UGH!! I happily told the staff it was out of coffee. I wanted to start my day with a good dark, strong cup of coffee. After a few minutes, the coffee still was not ready. After 10 minutes, no coffee. I didn’t want to eat my bagel without my coffee. After 15 minutes I reminded them there was no dark roast coffee. Finally, they got the coffee out. Now, I could write. Then, their wi-fi went out. So, I couldn’t check email, I couldn’t check ESPN, or dawdle. Thanks God! He has a real sense of humor.

Through it all, my patience was teetering more on the impatient side than the patient side.

WHY? Why is it that we become so impatient, so quickly. For you parents, who were up here this morning dedicating your children . . . how quickly does a great day turn ugly? Is it because we’ve lost our patience with our kids?

I tend to think patience has more to do with us, than with others. Nobody can control my patience thermometer. Only I can control it. I control my anger and my patience. Nobody else can. We usually lose our patience because we feel we’ve been inconvenienced.

There was a man whose car stalled in heavy traffic just as the light turned green. No matter what he did, the car wouldn’t start. You know what happened, he was frantically trying to start the car and a hundred other cars behind him were laying on their horns. In the end, through the entire green light the car wouldn’t start. The people behind continued to lay on their horns. Finally, he got out of his car and walked back to the driver right behind him who could obviously see and hear the man trying to start the car. He politely said to the man, “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to get my car started. Would you mind trying to start my car and I’ll sit in your car and honk at you.”

We are not a patient people.

The annual cost of people running red lights in the United States is. . . $7 Billion!

The average amount of time saved by running a red light . . . 50 seconds.

How many times have you rolled through a stop sign? How much time did you really save?

We’re always trying to figure out how to cram more and more things that need to be done into less and less time. We allow less and less time for things, so we rush and we’re frazzled and we become more and more impatient.

The time crunch is felt by nearly everyone. And those who aren’t worried about time and move at a slower pace, drive us crazy. Especially those with A type personalities. UGH! There’s even a church in Florida that advertises a 22 minute worship. That’s right. They promise that 22 minutes after the service begins you will be on your way out. The music is fast. . . The prayers are quick. . . The sermons are only 8 minutes long. Don’t get your hopes up, not happening here!

Traffic. Deadlines. Annoying people. Standing in line. Being put on hold. Watching a file download. Being told a check is in the mail. Frustrating people. Long boring meetings. Inept information. Incompetent people. Patience is needed.

While the apostle Paul was in prison, he wrote this to the people of Ephesus ~

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

I want to stop after this verse, because Paul is laying the ground work for us . . . Paul’s reminding us, he’s writing this while in prison for Christ. We need to understand what Paul is asking us to do, the way he is asking us to live our lives, is the way he is living his life, even while in prison.

He’s encouraging us to live in such a way that we will bring honor and glory to Christ. We are to be living examples of who Christ is within us. So, how should we live our lives? Paul goes on to tell us . . . we need to live our lives ~~