Patience is the one
thing I almost never ask for. Why? Whenever I ask for patience what I receive
are situations and experiences that put my patience to test. Sometimes it’s just best to avoid what one is
not good at! Patience with truth
combined with being quiet and being clear produces a great combination of
character in people. What is your
truth? What do you mean by “quietly and
clearly”? Where did you get your truth? What happens when “truth” is changed because
of new evidence? How do we handle being
wrong? I guess, for this chapter, its
good we are talking about patience! We
will need patience to take apart and understand this important part of us that
God wants us to understand. So, fasten
your seat belt and off we go.
In the Beatitudes we do not see “blessed
be the patient for they shall receive trials.” And probably for good
reason. Nor do we find it listed in the
10 Commandments. Yet when we read the
Bible we find lots of verses in the Old Testament and the New Testament about
patience. For instance, I’m glad there
are reassurances that the Lord is slow to anger (patient). I’m sure that if He wasn’t patient I would
not be writing this right now. Often in
Scripture we find patience and understanding together used together. Although I think I would reverse the order as
it seems that the more we understand, the more patient we can be. So, we should be understanding which would
help produce patience. Most of us can
probably remember a time in our lives when someone showed patience with
us. However, not many of us likes to
wait. Most of us are quick to look for
the solution, path, understanding, knowledge and such all on our own and for
ourselves alone. In this process we miss
out on what God understands, knows and such.
I haven’t been a very patient man. There are probably hundreds of people who
would echo “Amen” to this truth. I could
blame it on my ADHD. Perhaps I could
blame it on my parents, employers, friends, family, teachers or someone
else. Once we get past all of the
excuses there remains the focal point of my lack of patience…me. No one else, just me. I have repented so many times for being
impatient and promised to do better so many times that God probably has a
number assigned to this sin of mine.
Just say number 1 and let it be.
Whatever became of personal responsibility? Responsibility certainly remains in parts of
society and certain societal choices. However,
the personal aspect appears to be missing or diminished in quite a few
circumstances. Seldom do we hear someone
say, “It was my fault. Please forgive
me.” It’s more likely that the twin gods
of rationalization and justification take the front seat of this bus. Anything but personal responsibility. Quibbling about words is not the answer if
deep in our heart it’s our intention to not be patient. However, quibble we do. God grows weary daily with our lack of
responsibility. We “try” the patience of
God.
When we look deeply into any of the major
players in the Bible there is almost always a moment or two when the impatience
of the man inside of them thrusts itself to the forefront. Almost always disaster follows. So, it is today in the world we live in. If we could just understand that life can and
should be simple, we would be helped.
Some people even believe that it’s their right to speak their truth all
the time when sometimes it’s clearly a conflict with what God wants to take
place. Still, the Word says God is
patient with our strivings. The “truth”
evades us as we stubbornly go about our day working our will instead of his will. Just like the people in the Bible, we too
have great difficulty with waiting on God.
When things go badly we find the time to explain why this is not our
fault. When things go well we
congratulate ourselves on our superior knowledge and ambition. We have great difficulty accepting the
responsibility of not only our thoughts but also our actions. It is our sin that keeps God’s will distant
to us. Our will supersedes His. Can you see how this grieves the heart of God
and handicaps his graciousness towards us?
There are three types of response to the
truth. It’s important that we remember
God’s truth says that it will set us free.
So most likely our truth will enslave us. I’m just sayin’… My truth is based on only that which I
know. Other’s truth (including Satan’s)
either inclines us to follow or pushes us to resist. When engaging thought or action outside our
knowledge base, it goes without saying (but I will) that we are safest when we
first keep our mouths shut and secondly, we refrain from action. God wants us to accept and engage Biblical
truth. God’s truth is clear and needs no
defense. Yet we beat our heads against
the wall trying to get Uncle Jeb to understand that God is patient. We panic when we think he may not be saved
and we pour on the pressure. Patience is
not pressure nor is it panic. God is
love. God loves us. God says love is patient. God practices patience towards us. God knows Uncle Jeb inside and out. God wants us to practice: “love is patient.” Doesn’t get much clearer than that. What are we thinking when we act this
way? Do we really know better than God?
Many years ago I was faced with the task
of reminding some men I knew that the Word said that what they were doing was
sin. They were in church leadership. After praying about the meeting and having a
witness with me I talked with them.
Their response blew me away. They
told us that “in this case we need to be disobedient to God.” You could have knocked my friend and me over
with a feather. Stunned and baffled I
wondered just what was it these men believed?
What, I wondered, had they been believing that caused them to make that
statement. It was only later that I
acknowledged that a Christian truth spiced with the twins of rationalization
and justification creates a truth that I am not comfortable with. And, yes, I know that I have been just as
guilty many times in my life. I do
realize that every “true” statement applies to me as well as others. Perhaps it applies more than I am aware. Perhaps it applies to you more than you like
as well. God’s truth is written out in
black and white (sometimes in some translations in red also). What is our truth? The full truth of God is freedom. How about our truth? What is our truth full of?
My definition of truth has evolved
through my life and many changes and realizations have taken place. Even so, sometimes I find that what I thought
was truth conflicted with Gods truth.
So, when I do speak of the Gods truth, there is a standard established
that I am often not able to attain. Certainly,
within my own walk there are times of “what was I thinking.” Perhaps I wasn’t thinking. Perhaps I wasn’t being patient enough to wait
for Gods direction before going forward.
Okay, “perhaps” that hasn’t always been the truth for me. Often, I have used “my truth” just as those
men I mentioned above have done. We’ve
taken something pure and defiled it. We
are not talking about accidentally misrepresenting the truth. Like telling Aunt Ellen her dress is beautiful
when she asks. Telling our kids that
there is a Santa Claus when there is not.
Not telling a waitress that your food order is wrong because you don’t
want to create a scene. You get the
point. My truth is not always THE
truth. I have used it to manipulate,
control and a host of other things. Have
you done that with your truth also? It’s
a never-ending assault on our lives if we know Christ. Satan knows there is power in God’s
truth. He also knows the power that lies
presented as truth hold us captive. We
are not free.
Others truth follows a similar path. Our reaction to the world’s truth though is
different from our reaction to God’s truth.
For instance, have you ever heard anyone say, “That’s just the way he
thinks…”? “She thinks that’s true but…”
“That’s just Steve. You know how he
is.” We either agree with their truth,
against their truth or simply don’t care about their truth. Our reactions come through our thinking of
“what benefits me the most.” What do we
say to God? Either we are silent and
believe he doesn’t notice or we open our mouths and speak proving to be the
fools we are. Wishing right now we could
be invisible. We have even found a word
to make lying okay. We call them “little
white lies.” These are “good” for
somebody in our way of thinking through truth.
The tooth fairy, Easter bunny, and Santa Claus and his reindeer who fly
come to mind. “Billy’s parents say there
is TO a Santa Claus.” Why would we want
to break our darling’s little hearts and tell them the truth? If Billy’s dad told our child that when he
jumped out of the upstairs window he could fly; would we say anything? If our Christian Aunt Cloe told our teenage
son or daughter that it was okay to disobey the curfew time, would we say
anything? Of course, we would. We would tell our child that Billy’s dad did
not know the truth. Aunt Cloe would be
admonished and not invited back if she repeated that that choice. You see, we do have “control” over certain
truth that God has validated.
For many of us there is a contradiction
in the chapter heading and what we believe.
We are either from the mode of speaking the truth, not speaking the
truth or somewhere in between. All
three weighed out by the ramifications brought back upon us. Those who speak the truth others want to hear
are labelled leaders and those who are quiet are followers in the worlds
understanding. We divide up groups and
individuals according to a mass of conflicting and divisive criteria and just make
the mess worse. Simply put, we need to
want to attend to God’s understanding.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly with Biblical guidance and in an
attitude brought on you through patience and listening to God is always the
best option.
Speaking your truth clearly should cause
you to wonder first “if” people hear you and second “what” they hear. Here is where God and patience come into
play. Semantics play a very big role in
our conversations and intentions. So,
when we state a truth we must weigh out whether people hear what we say (not
just listen) and what they hear us say (not just what they translate). More than once miscommunications have had
negative consequences because this simple rule has been abandoned in
conversations. This gaffe is found in
the issues of small importance as well as those issues of great
importance. Speaking the truth clearly
lays a heavy burden on the speaker and not the hearer. Being able to “read” or “discern” the people
we are communicating with can be somewhat tricky. That is precisely why it’s important to speak
very clearly. The best-case scenario for
the Christian speaking to another Christian or non-Christian is to assume they
don’t know what you are talking about.
Take time to break down the complex and address one item at a time. The acronym KISS (keep it simple stupid) is
handy in all situations. Especially the
situations where you are passing on information that you want others to take
seriously. There are many different
approaches to communicating and many different organizations that teach others
how to communicate. God’s school of
keeping the truth simply and clearly his message is still the best option.
I confess that one of my pet peeves are
the people and or organizations that “hint” at what they want to say. Second to that are those who carry the “hint”
to the length where they believe we can read their minds! That pet peeve is at its worst when the
“hint” veiled in verbose verbiage (see what I mean!) expect to hear they only
answer they will acknowledge. The
conversation has begun, continued and culminated without the interaction with
another person. You won’t be heard. If you already have your mind made up do not
ask me to give you input. This is where
God has suggested we do not throw our pearls before swine. When encountering people who won’t or don’t
want to hear anything but what they want to hear it’s best to not engage in the
first place. You have all been there
when the question asked is rhetorical.
There is no reason to ask a rhetorical question and even less reason to
provide an answer to that question. We
also fall into the snare of technicality (the arguing over semantics or word
definition and usage). This form of
interaction is going to most likely lead to an argument or the statement be
left on your doorstep like a bomb waiting to blow. Finally, the end form of this evolving pet
peeve of miscommunication is the person who knows everything and wishes you to
acknowledge this and worship at their feet.
How fortunate we are to have such people in our presence. Opps, that would be how incredible that they
would entertain such lowly humans with their greatness. You all know at least one or maybe two. You try to avoid the other dozen or so. This may be a spouse, friend or even one of
your enemies. Let’s concentrate this
issue where it squarely belongs; you, me, and others before God. Gulp!
Yes you, me, and others who know everything and have no need of the
input of God. Or perhaps their truth is
spoken clearly so that even God can learn from their great wisdom. Heaven help us all!
Speak your truth quietly and
clearly. The Lord asks us to be
patient. He tells us to be patient. Should we dare to speak as a Christian? Let us do so with the fear of God in our
hearts and mind. Fear does not mean
scared like we are of others. Fear in
this context means being in a respectful position with God who is our Father,
Brother and Holy Spirit. Their example
throughout the Bible is one of wisdom combined with gentleness and love to move
us toward that place where when we speak people hear the voice of God in what
has been said. This applies to
statements and questions alike. There
are some very powerful examples of a clearly stated question being put to a
person or group in the Bible. In effect
“your truth and clarity” is really His truth and clarity. The message that God delivers has a quality
to it where we do not question what has been stated. We witness in our spirits what has been said
as from him. We know from Biblical
example that God does not communicate in a manner that manipulates, controls or
keeps secrets. Why? Because God does not interfere with our free
will in such manners. But wait, you ask,
how about unanswered prayers. If you
have unanswered prayers, there may be many different reasons. If you are still alive you will receive the
answer if you truly seek it. If you are dead,
you already have the answer. His word
says that when we go into his presence all will be known.
So, if we should be so brave as to try to
speak truth clearly with the wisdom of God we will develop patience. For at this point we can understand that if
we speak God’s word clearly that those who are offended or even angered are so
at God and not necessarily at you. You
may hear their angry complaints; however, their battle is with God and not
you. Let their anger or other feelings
fall off your shoulders to the base of the cross. No need to go any further. We do not need to or should feel compelled to
defend what God says or does. That’s His
job. He can do just fine without
me. The less we take on the battle with
others over the truth the more patient we become. It’s at this point that you and I realize
that this person before us is reflective of ourselves at some point in our
history. We too have been there arguing
with God and some of us (me in particular) still argue with God from time to
time. By the way, I still feel the
“want” to defend God and his Word. I’ll get there eventually. At least that is what the Bible says. I believe the Bible. So, should you.
Now that you are filled with wisdom and can
speak it clearly in a patient matter, life of freedom is yours. Go ahead and enjoy it! At least enjoy it for that moment when you
realize this has taken place. The more
you acknowledge that you have been able to apply this principle in your life,
the more you will seek to repeat the cycle.
The more the cycle is repeated, the more patient you feel. Patience, in turn, allows us the ability to
let God have the control of our lives.
We are his instruments of clear communication in truth with the patience
that can only come from Him. So, a
challenge to all of us is to first look at how much of our communicative life
has been outside this principle and then confess and repent allowing the Holy
Spirit to build a new communication structure within us. Will you let Him do that today and every
other day in your life?
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