With patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:2b-3
“God, give me patience!” I’ve heard it hundreds of times and have even said it a few. Ok, I may have said it more than a few times. Patience is something we need because of other people. Honestly, they drive us nuts, and it often causes us to consider responding in anger. I had a middle school band director who had not yet mastered patience. I later learned he was a good man, but when you’re in middle school, you don’t really like many of your teachers. I imagine there was not a day that Mr. Brown did not lose his patience with our rowdy class and throw a chair across the room to get our attention. Not a plastic chair, but one of those folding metal chairs.
It turned into a goal of many of the students to see if they could push Mr. Brown to do just that. Now, little old me, the absolute angel of the class, never participated in such shenanigans (RIGHT). Looking back, I could see him as he calmly began class and then begin to lose it during that long 50-minute block of time. The effect we had on him was quite extraordinary. We should have been ashamed of ourselves, but in reality, it was a game to us each day.
Patience is the key to bearing with one another in love
When the Holy Spirit resides in a person, they can experience patience. We all can indeed have a certain amount of patience when it comes to bearing with one another, but the patience God gives us is beyond something we have passed down from generation to generation. It is supernatural patience that only the Holy Spirit can provide to us.
You have definitely lost your patience with someone if you have children. They have a way of pushing all the right buttons to make us do things we otherwise would never do. We yell, throw things, and run out of the house hoping someone will come and take our kids while we are away. Patience is tough.
But, patience is not an option for the believer. The Christ-follower should, at all times, live a peaceful and patient life before others. I realize people are different, and being around them is like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard. But patience is not an option. We are to love them with a godly love that demonstrates patience even when we want to pound someone into the ground.
Patience is an expression of unity and peace
Only through the power of the Holy Spirit is it possible to respond to others with patience. Remember, the goal is love and unity that only the Holy Spirit can provide to us. So, we must be in a right relationship with the Lord to have a life that honors the Lord through our patience that leads to unity and peace. We don’t want to walk around life hurling band chairs, and music stands across a room, do we? I would think not.
This peace that Paul talks about here is only through salvation. There is no peace in your life apart from that.
Patience comes from our relationship with the Lord. It should be our priority. When that relationship is right, relationships with others are more manageable. It doesn’t mean that you won’t lose patience. But it does mean that you have the Holy Spirit to guide you in those frustrating times.
Will you give your frustrations over to the Lord and demonstrate patience today for the sake of peace and unity? Yes. It means you should have patience in your marriage relationships as well. When your husband does something dumb for the 50th time in four days, you should still show patience. When your wife says something for the millionth time, you should show patience. Remember, it’s not just you. It is the Holy Spirit living through you to produce a new you that can show your changed heart in the form of patience with each other.
Will you consider giving those issues to the Lord today so He can work on that area in your life?