Our VBS this year was about the Fruit of the Spirit. So, naturally, the
Fruit of the Spirit has been on my mind a lot lately. By now, we all
know the song that Allen taught us, so we know that the Fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. There is one of those, in particular,
that I want to talk about because it is the one that I struggle with,
and I know if I struggle with it, other people struggle with it as
well. That one
is.......................................................................................................patience.
I was blessed this year to be able to write the puppet shows for VBS. I
wrote four. Peace, Joy, Kindness, and Patience. Patience was the most
difficult. Not because I had a hard time figuring out what to write,
but because I had a very hard time keeping it inside a time limit. It
ended up being the longest of the four, and I still have more to say on
the topic.
2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe
1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in
the world through lust.
Wow. That's some good stuff. Peter
tells us that we have been given all things that pertain to life and
godliness and we got those things through our knowledge of Jesus. He
tells us that we have been promised great and precious things. That we
can be partakers of the divine nature because we escape the evil of the
world. These are all things that we really want.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe
1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Here, Peter tells us that to the faith he already
talked about above, that we should add virtue, and to that knowledge,
and to that temperance, and to that patience, and to that godliness, and
to that brotherly kindness, and to that love. Notice how these thing
build on each other. If we don't have faith, we won't be virtuous
because we won't care about being Christ-like. And if we aren't
virtuous we won't care at all about being knowledgeable. Then, for
folks who struggle with patience, he takes to meddling. He tells us
that to knowledge we should add temperance, and to that patience, and
then we can move on to things like godliness, brotherly kindness, and
love. I don't think it's a mistake that he put love last. I think
Peter is trying to tell us that to truly love our brothers and sisters
the way that Christ did, we have to have all these other things first.
As Greg talked about on Sunday, some of the early ones are pretty easy,
but as we move on down the list, it gets harder. Faith in Jesus and
baptism isn't the end, it's just the beginning. And we are to
constantly be working toward the end of the list. To do that, we have
to get over that patience hump.
And that's where it gets
difficult, at least for me. Sometimes I want to spit out exactly what's
on my mind. I feel like someone has wronged me or said something out
of turn and I just want to let loose with what's on my mind. Sometimes,
I want something and I want it now. Often, what I want is a thing.
But, more often what I want is for someone to act in some certain way.
Sometimes, I want God to do something and I want him to use my time
table instead of His own. To get over that patience hump we may have to
make a lot of changes. We may have to grow a little thicker skin. We
may have to give our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt
more. We may have to practice keeping our mouth closed when our first
inclination is to open and let someone have a piece of our mind. And
most of all, we need to ask God to help us, and He will.
2Pe
1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Peter
gives us a warning here. He says that those who lack these things are
blind. And worse than that, that he has forgotten that he was purged
from his old sin. He goes on to say that we should give diligence to
working on those things. That is the second time he has said that we
need to be diligent. The first time was up in verse 5. So, he started
by telling us to be diligent and he ended by telling us again.
Now,
I said before that if we ask God to help us with these things, He
will. But, He will not do them for us. We aren't just going to wake up
one morning and be magically patient. It's going to take work on our
part. And sometimes, that work is hard. That's why Peter tells us to
be diligent. And he gives further encouragement in the next two verses.
2Pe
1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe
1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present
truth.
He reminds us that we will have a place in the kingdom
of God if we strive to work on these things. And then he tells us that
he will not be negligent in reminding us of these things. And he
hasn't. It's written down for us to look at any time we need to. And
even though we know them, it never hurts to be reminded of them again
because we all need reminders every now and then.
Maybe, like me,
patience is your hurdle. Lay that on God and He will help you. You
can also lay that on your brothers and sisters and they will help you
too. Maybe patience isn't a problem for you, but maybe one of these
other things is your hurdle. God is just as willing to help you with
that problem. And your brothers and sisters are ready to help you too.
Maybe
you have never put on Christ, and you're thinking, "I need those things
in my life. I need temperance. I need patience. I need love." It
can be yours to have. All that it takes is for you to repent of your
sins, a turning away from the sinful things in your life. To confess
before men that you believe Jesus is Lord and is the only way to eternal
life. To be buried in baptism with Him for the remission of those sins
so that you can rise to walk a new life, a clean life, a loving life.
Everything is ready. There's no need to wait. In coming to Jesus, it's
ok to be impatient.
Fruit of the Spirit has been on my mind a lot lately. By now, we all
know the song that Allen taught us, so we know that the Fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. There is one of those, in particular,
that I want to talk about because it is the one that I struggle with,
and I know if I struggle with it, other people struggle with it as
well. That one
is.......................................................................................................patience.
I was blessed this year to be able to write the puppet shows for VBS. I
wrote four. Peace, Joy, Kindness, and Patience. Patience was the most
difficult. Not because I had a hard time figuring out what to write,
but because I had a very hard time keeping it inside a time limit. It
ended up being the longest of the four, and I still have more to say on
the topic.
2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe
1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in
the world through lust.
Wow. That's some good stuff. Peter
tells us that we have been given all things that pertain to life and
godliness and we got those things through our knowledge of Jesus. He
tells us that we have been promised great and precious things. That we
can be partakers of the divine nature because we escape the evil of the
world. These are all things that we really want.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe
1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Here, Peter tells us that to the faith he already
talked about above, that we should add virtue, and to that knowledge,
and to that temperance, and to that patience, and to that godliness, and
to that brotherly kindness, and to that love. Notice how these thing
build on each other. If we don't have faith, we won't be virtuous
because we won't care about being Christ-like. And if we aren't
virtuous we won't care at all about being knowledgeable. Then, for
folks who struggle with patience, he takes to meddling. He tells us
that to knowledge we should add temperance, and to that patience, and
then we can move on to things like godliness, brotherly kindness, and
love. I don't think it's a mistake that he put love last. I think
Peter is trying to tell us that to truly love our brothers and sisters
the way that Christ did, we have to have all these other things first.
As Greg talked about on Sunday, some of the early ones are pretty easy,
but as we move on down the list, it gets harder. Faith in Jesus and
baptism isn't the end, it's just the beginning. And we are to
constantly be working toward the end of the list. To do that, we have
to get over that patience hump.
And that's where it gets
difficult, at least for me. Sometimes I want to spit out exactly what's
on my mind. I feel like someone has wronged me or said something out
of turn and I just want to let loose with what's on my mind. Sometimes,
I want something and I want it now. Often, what I want is a thing.
But, more often what I want is for someone to act in some certain way.
Sometimes, I want God to do something and I want him to use my time
table instead of His own. To get over that patience hump we may have to
make a lot of changes. We may have to grow a little thicker skin. We
may have to give our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt
more. We may have to practice keeping our mouth closed when our first
inclination is to open and let someone have a piece of our mind. And
most of all, we need to ask God to help us, and He will.
2Pe
1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Peter
gives us a warning here. He says that those who lack these things are
blind. And worse than that, that he has forgotten that he was purged
from his old sin. He goes on to say that we should give diligence to
working on those things. That is the second time he has said that we
need to be diligent. The first time was up in verse 5. So, he started
by telling us to be diligent and he ended by telling us again.
Now,
I said before that if we ask God to help us with these things, He
will. But, He will not do them for us. We aren't just going to wake up
one morning and be magically patient. It's going to take work on our
part. And sometimes, that work is hard. That's why Peter tells us to
be diligent. And he gives further encouragement in the next two verses.
2Pe
1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe
1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present
truth.
He reminds us that we will have a place in the kingdom
of God if we strive to work on these things. And then he tells us that
he will not be negligent in reminding us of these things. And he
hasn't. It's written down for us to look at any time we need to. And
even though we know them, it never hurts to be reminded of them again
because we all need reminders every now and then.
Maybe, like me,
patience is your hurdle. Lay that on God and He will help you. You
can also lay that on your brothers and sisters and they will help you
too. Maybe patience isn't a problem for you, but maybe one of these
other things is your hurdle. God is just as willing to help you with
that problem. And your brothers and sisters are ready to help you too.
Maybe
you have never put on Christ, and you're thinking, "I need those things
in my life. I need temperance. I need patience. I need love." It
can be yours to have. All that it takes is for you to repent of your
sins, a turning away from the sinful things in your life. To confess
before men that you believe Jesus is Lord and is the only way to eternal
life. To be buried in baptism with Him for the remission of those sins
so that you can rise to walk a new life, a clean life, a loving life.
Everything is ready. There's no need to wait. In coming to Jesus, it's
ok to be impatient.
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