Patience and Serenity
24th FEBRUARY 2022
Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant [1 Corinthians 13:4 AMP].
Over time, patience has either become just a name or what we tell ourselves in an attempt to calm down when we are being angered by someone. But this virtue and attribute of love is too powerful a tool for co-existence to be taken for granted.
Let’s do a short bible study on Psalms 37:7–10 to know what true patience is. Patience is being still before the Lord and waiting on and for Him. Patience is when you do not fret at the sight of trouble, but entrust it into the hands of the Lord. It is your ability to stay unperturbed when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their worldly schemes, yet you seem stuck and lost on your journey as a believer. Patience is what makes you refrain from anger and turn from being indifferent towards people when your love and kindness is not reciprocated.
In the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, he notes that “In every church and in every small group, there is always at least one” difficult person, usually more than one. These people may have special emotional needs, deep insecurities, irritating mannerisms, or poor social skills. You might call them EGR people — “Extra Grace Required” people. He goes on further to ask, “Will we love them as brothers and sisters and treat them with dignity?”
To love people, patience is a must-have virtue.
The question then is, have you ever been rejected by the love of God? Seeing the number of second chances Christ has given us, and His level of patience, we definitely pass as Extra Grace Required people. But that has not stopped Him from loving us, neither can we stop loving others. Know that you require patience, desire it and pray for it.
Loving in patience makes it possible to live in this world and, most importantly, to do the work of God. It is what makes a fellowship possible.
Father, May I experience true patience to be able to love as You loved me. May I have the patience to wait on You for Your promises for me, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Further Reading: Hebrews 10:36
Bible In One Year: Numbers [36] & Deuteronomy [1–3]
