Practice Patience – Resist Retaliation
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
Patience and kindness can often be a combination that is a cure for a lot of ailments, especially in this current environment of a stressed world. Certainly all of us have had our patience tested in the many months of Covid and it may even be almost gone. As we have strived to maintain continuity in our time of worship and praise of our Lord in church and in the community, we have learned some patience. If we are to help those who are fearful and timid and the faint of heart, then we need to practice even more patience.
The patience that God shows us is one of His divine attributes that is displayed over and over again to His people in the Old Testament books. There is the same patience in our broken world these days. We only have to read the book of Exodus and the behavior of the people of Israel, who were former slaves released from Egypt to see God’s patience. It prompted Moses to write in Deuteronomy 31:27, “For I know how rebellion and your stubbornness behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then after my death?”
But when God’s patience is tested by His people, they will also know the side of Him who delivers wrath. God cannot tolerate sin and His judgement was seen when the people spoke against God and Moses in Numbers 21. They complained and grumbled about their food and the time spent in the desert. “So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” Numbers 21:6
Another aspect of patience is that it is a Christian virtue. We are to practice patience with others as God has been patient with us. I have learned a little more (maybe a lot more) about patience while spending a few hours a week with 3yr and 6 yr old boys. Their level of attention requires a myriad of activities, games and play. I have been recently thankful for these sunny warm days and the re-opening of the local playgrounds to help. I think all have shown great patience with social distancing and masking these past months. I hope we will learn and practice patience in our country in the days and months ahead.
The subject of the need to resist retaliation will be next week……
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Fba0iHb40ms&feature=share