“Did you hear about the teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his boots? He asked for help and she could see why?
With her pulling and him pushing, the boots still didn’t want to go on.
When the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost whimpered when the little boy said, ‘Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.’
She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on—this time on the right feet.
He then announced, ‘These aren’t my boots.’
She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, ‘Why didn’t you say so?’ like she wanted to.
Once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off.
He then said, ‘They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear them.’
She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.
She said, ‘Now, where are your mittens?’
He said, ‘I stuffed them in the toes of my boots…’ (www.jokeseverday.com/jokes/patience.htm)
What a patient teacher! Patience is never an easy thing. After our drive to North Carolina this last Christmas I sent a message back to the church that whoever prayed for patience for me was in a lot of trouble. I don’t know if you got that message or not. Taking 27 hours to make a 15hour trip was one of the most aggravating trips I have ever taken in my life. What would normally take 1 ½ hours of our trip took about 8 hours. We sat without moving at one point from 9:15pm until 1:00am. That was right after we had to take a 45 mile detour that took 4 hours to make. Never before have I been asked to exhibit such patience. But probably the most difficult aspect of patience is to have it in our relationship with others. But that is what the Bible calls us to. We are going to start a series today on what is most commonly referred to as the love passage, I Corinthians 13:4-8. Now this scripture passage is in many marriage ceremonies that are done today, it is also used many times in my pre-marital counseling sessions. But the love that is described there is a love that we are called to love all people with. After all, it is the love that God loves us with. If you want to look in your Bible with me this morning you can, but we will be looking at that first aspect of love. Love is patient.
I Corinthians 13:4
The Bible says that love is patient. The question is, why is love patient? Or maybe it’s better to ask the question: Why should we show patience?
In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus tells a parable where a king decided it was time to settle accounts with his servants. A servant was brought before him who owed him ten thousand talents. That was a lot of money. The servant was not able to pay him so the king ordered that the man and his wife and children and everything he had be sold to repay the debt. But the servant fell on his knees before him and begged him to be patient with him and he would pay him back everything he owes. The king was filled with so much pity that not only was he patient but he wiped out the entire debt. But after the servant left he went and found a man that owed him money. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded payment of the dept. The man begged and pleaded with him asking him for patience. But he refused to show the man any patience and he had him put into prison until he could pay the money back. When others took notice of this they went and told the king and the king was so distressed that he had the man arrested, jailed and tortured until he could pay back every penny that he owed him. The king showed the man an incredible amount of patience and mercy, shouldn’t that man have gone out and extended that same patience and mercy with that man? But instead he was hardhearted like he never truly received the patience from the king. Why should we show patience? I think the answer is so simple: Because God is patient with you. How many times have we let God down? How many times have we said, “Lord, if you would just do this for me, I promise I will do what you want for the rest of my life!” Yet, a few weeks later it’s like we never even said that. How many times has God been patient with you when you failed to acknowledge His will for your life? How many times has God stuck with you and watched over you, even when you have let Him down? If God has done that for us, shouldn’t we in turn do that in our relationships with others? How many times has someone let us down and sure, maybe we will give them grace once? We will be patient the first time. But after that mister, there are no more chances. You blew it! Aren’t you glad that God isn’t the same way! But maybe you’ve never really took notice with God’s patience for you. Max Lucado writes in his book, A Love Worth Giving, “If you find patience hard to give, you might ask the same question. How infiltrated are you with God’s patience? You’ve heard about it. Read about it. Perhaps underlined passages regarding it. But have you received it? The proof is in your patience. Patience deeply received results in patience freely offered.” That last statement is worth repeating again. “Patience deeply received results in patience freely offered.” How deeply have you received the patience that God has given to you? If you haven’t truly felt the depth of patience that He has shown to you then you will have a hard time being freely patient with others. God is love and God is patient. Patience is such a big part of true love. Patience with your spouse is so important in a good marriage. When you live together there are going to be things that will drive you nuts. But love demands patience. We have a world that breaks God’s heart with its disobedience and lack of regard for what He wants. But even in the midst of a world that breaks his heart; Peter tell us in II Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone coming to repentance.” I think of Jonah. Jonah ran from God’s call on his life. We all know how God had him swallowed by a big fish. But God spared him and gave Jonah a second chance that he didn’t deserve. Jonah went back and preached repentance and the people responded. God’s patience paid off, but Jonah had no patience for the people he was sent to and he was angry that they were spared and shown patience. It makes you wonder how much Jonah truly recognized and experienced God’s patience. If you have truly experienced God’s patience with you, then your life will exhibit patience with others. You will have patience in your marriage, your friendships, and with your brothers and sisters in Christ. This passage says the very first thing that love is- is patience.
Not only should we show patience because God is patient with us, but we also should be patient because people never see Christ in your impatience. If we are to reflect the love of Christ working through us, others are never going to see it through our impatience. I must be honest, this truth hit home with me this week. Last Monday when I was in Joplin I took my car in to have an oil and lube job done while I went grocery shopping inside Walmart. So I pull up to the service place in back and a sign says to stay in your vehicle and someone would come out to you. I waited, and I waited, and no one seemed to be coming. So I got out of my car and finally found the guy who was supposed to be meeting me out at the car. I managed to grumble about the fact of what the sign said and what actually happened, had to make sure that he knew how long I had been sitting in my car. But when he made it over to help me out, he looked at me and said, “Are you having a good day, sir?” I don’t know if he meant it this way or not, but all of a sudden I realized just how impatient I had been and how I probably came across. I was frustrated and impatient and there was nothing Christ-like about my attitude. All of a sudden I changed my attitude and perspective very quickly. When we live as impatient people with others I guarantee you that no one will see Christ in your impatience. If God’s goal for us in this life is for others to see the image of His Son in our lives then patience is a big part of that. How do I know that? Because God gave us the Holy Spirit to help lead us and guide us so that we can become more Christ-like. And Galatians 5:22 tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” The list goes on, but we are told here that the fruit of God’s spirit is patience. I believe that God desires to bring patience to all areas of our life. He wants it for our attitudes when things don’t quite go our way. When it feels like everything in the world seems to be going against us, God wants to see patience from us. Romans 12:12 tells us “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” God wants patience to be apart of our life during the biggest struggles. I believe that He wants patience in our lives for the way we deal with the people we come across in our lives. God’s desires to give you His patience for people. If we give up on people when they have let us down and disappointed us how are we going to be any different than the rest of the world. There are people out there who have made some bad choices and people all around them have given up on them already. They need to meet someone who doesn’t give up so easily who says, “I know that you have messed up, but I believe in you. I believe that you can make a change in your life.” When a person experiences that, believe me they will see Christ in your life. Lord forgive us for the times when our impatience has caused others not to see you in us.
Another reason that patience is so important in a person’s life is; many mistakes are made without it. How many times have we in our relationships jumped to conclusions without first hearing the facts? How many times have we opened our mouth and spoken when it would have been better had we been patient and listened. Often times when we speak from the moments of emotion instead of taking the time and being patient to really listen or even fully understand a situation and we say things that do damage to our relationships. I believe understanding and patience go hand in hand. The first part of Proverbs 14:29 says, “A patient man has great understanding. Max Lucado was talking about one time he and his staff had gone to these conferences together. He was really growing impatient and irritated because these two gentlemen in the back kept whispering while he was trying to listen to the conference. All of a sudden the speaker made mention of the two men in the back talking. One man was from somewhere like Romania and the other man was translating everything for him. All of a sudden he had an understanding of the situation and he was much more patient about the talking going on behind him. You see so many times we get irritated and upset and often time act out of our impatience when we don’t have understanding of what is truly going on and often times damage is done. In our marriages sometimes we are quick to not be patient with our spouses’ faults. We are quick to point them out and criticize them instead of being patient and dealing with them in a loving way. Sometimes we fail to take time to understand situations with our spouses and when we do that it leads to impatience. A lack of patience has damaged many relationships. Sometimes being critical is a lot easier than being patient. Patience isn’t an easy thing. But God’s wants us to develop it or it wouldn’t be a fruit of the Spirit. God shows us his love and patience with us by His timing in our lives. Don’t you think that God would love to give you your hearts desire when you ask? But God also knows that there are times when He must wait to answer your prayer because if He answered it when you wanted it would not be a good thing for you. So I believe even God shows patience in answering our prayers. In the same way, by doing that God is developing patience in our life. You see patience is about trust. We must trust God that He does love us and desire what is best for us so we must wait and be patient and wait on Him. Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” There are so many other scriptures that talk about waiting upon the Lord. But patience in our relationship with God is just as crucial as patience in our relationship with people. There have been many mistakes made by people who have rushed out and did things in the name of God yet were never really patient enough to find out if what they were doing was what God wanted them to do. Then they didn’t understand why things didn’t turn out great when they were doing it for God. Patience is such an important aspect in our life. True love is patience. Patience with your spouse, with your friends, with those you come in contact with and with God shows your love. Because according to the scriptures the first thing love is, is patient.
Maybe some of you here today are struggling with patience in your life. God has been so patient with you. Why don’t you let His Spirit work in your life to develop that patience in you? Maybe your impatience has left a negative effect on one of your relationships. They haven’t seen Christ in you. Today would be a good time to say, “I’m sorry.” Patience can stop us from making a lot of mistakes. Won’t you seek it today? Whatever your need maybe our altars are open.
