Impatience

If you read one of the last posts, you would be familiar with the book review that I did on Jerry Bridge’s book, “Respectable Sins.”  He says that respectable sins are those sins that we tolerate in our life because they are not as bad as the greater sins of society – murder, adultery, theft, etc.  But, he explains, and we should all know, that sin is sin no matter what.  Which leads me to the topic for today, impatience.

Have you ever honked your horn at the car sitting in front of you at the stop light as soon as the light turned green?  Have you every raised your voice to your children because they did not move fast enough after you told them to do something?  How about when you and your spouse are getting ready to go out for the evening and they are changing their clothes for the third time?  Have you ever glared at someone in line in front of you when they are not moving fast enough?  The situation that I am dealing with is that I feel that God has called us to ministry in Papua, and now he is telling us to wait as the support raising process is going slower than I would like it to go.

Though it is easier to deal with the situations that were formerly described by going to 1 Corinthians 13:4a, where it says that love is patient, it can be more difficult to deal with the latter situation.  We feel that God is urging us either through His Word or another believer to do something for Him, and then He tells us to wait patiently.  While I understand that this builds my faith, my tendency is to say “When is this going to happen, Lord?”

When I do see impatience in my life, I need to ask forgiveness from those I am being impatient toward and from God.  May God grant you patience (and grant it immediately ).