Patience, my dear friend!

Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It is also part of our journey to maturity. If you think about it, most things in life that have great value need for you to have patience in order to acquire it, ie: future spouse, college degree, a good meal that takes a long time to cook, losing 50 pounds, your once a year vacation, etc. Most people understand that, yet most are terribly impatient, and in the process, make many mistakes because they refuse to wait until the right time, or until they are truly prepared for it. Romans 15:5 says: “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.” God is patient and longsuffering with us. We have to determine to be patient in our journey as well. When we move too quickly, we can actually sin, and miss our true mark. Abraham was impatient with God’s promise, and instead of waiting for the manifestation of the promised child, he went ahead and had a child with another woman. This decision is still creating great problems around the world. Patience is deciding not to jump into something just because everyone else is doing it. It’s deciding to hold your actions, decisions and energy until the right time and place that will reap the maximum benefits for all. That my dear friend, is true maturity and power!

James 1:4 “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Grow up!

Paul shared with the Ephesians that the goal of discipleship was to grow to maturity, and from that posture, we would be able to speak the truth to each other in love. Today, the only thing that people want to hear is what makes them happy, or only what they agree with. Paul said that in the last days, people would have itching ears: 2 Timothy 4:3-4 – For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. We are seeing this today. It’s time to grow up in Christ and put away anything that would turn one away from the truth. Jesus called Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let’s speak the truth in love, and help others to find the truth!

Ephesians 4:15 – Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.