Patient as He Is Patient - February 14

Read 1 Timothy 1:15-16

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

Reflect

Prayerfully consider your sins. How has God been patient toward you?

Would you consider yourself quick to become frustrated with others or slow to anger? Unfortunately, I see impatience in myself. I get agitated when I feel like others are slowing me down. I have places to go and things to do after all. I am quickly irritated with other people who just don’t seem to “get it” whatever “it” is. And I get easily frustrated with the repeated failings and shortcomings of other people. Why can’t they just get with the program?

Apparently, I quickly forget that other people have places to go and things to do, too. Maybe they feel like I am slowing them down. I am willing to bet that people have been totally annoyed with me before because I just didn’t “get it”! And worst of all, it seems that I have a blind spot to my own repeated failings and short-comings. Why can’t I just get with the program?

But when I prayerfully consider this, I realize that it’s not just other people who have had occasion to be impatient and frustrated with me. No one has more just cause to be irritated with me than God. Through His Word, God has given me very clear instructions about how to live and how to behave. But over and over again, He has watched me do the exact opposite of His commands.

In today’s verse, the apostle Paul wrote about the perfect patience that God had exhibited in His life. He even called himself “the foremost” of sinners. Why would the apostle Paul, someone who wrote about half of the New Testament and someone we consider to be a great hero of the Christian faith, call himself the worst of sinners?

Well, Paul was not quick to forget his past. Remember that it was Paul (using his Hebrew name Saul at the time) who approved of the stoning of Stephen and who persecuted the early church and dragged Christians off to prison (Acts 7:58, 8:1-3). It wasn’t until his miraculous encounter with the Lord that he converted to Christianity and became the bold leader of the early church that we think of today (Acts 9).

You see, Paul didn’t have a blind spot to his sin. In Romans 7:18-25, Paul described his battle between his sinful flesh and his desire to do what is right: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

Paul knew that he was sinner and that Christ had been more than patient with Him. He knew it was only because of God’s mercy alone that he was saved. But, as Paul points out to us, his story is intended to be an example to all of us. If Christ was patient and merciful with Paul, we can trust that He is perfectly patient and merciful with us as well. What an assurance of our salvation and the eternal life that we have in Christ!

It’s also convicting to me. When I consider the extent of my own sin and I am reminded that it is only because of God’s patience and mercy that I am saved, who am I to be impatient and irritated with others? I simply have no right.

Thankfully, Christ’s mercy covers the sin of my impatience as well. Plus, there’s hope in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in my life. Galatians 5:22-23 lists patience as the fourth Fruit of the Spirit. I am praying that the Spirit will continue to grow patience in my life so that I become patient as He is patient.

Respond

Lord, I confess that I struggle with being impatient towards those that You have called me to love. When I am tempted to lose my temper, remind me of my own sin and of Your great mercy towards me. Develop the fruit of patience in me. I want to be like You. Amen.

Reveal

Is there a person in your life that you particularly struggle to be patient with? Ask God to help you be patient as He is patient toward you, revealing His temperament to those around you.