Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Patience”
Our Bible verse for today: “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.” 2 Timothy 2:24
Our thought for today: “It’s easier to have patience with some people than with others.”
Have you ever heard it said of someone, “That guy could tick off the Pope!”? I’ve said that myself on more than a few occasions. Come to think of it, I imagine people have sometimes said it about me too.
The truth is that some people are hard to be patient with. Some people have sharp edges to their personality that make them difficult to be around. They’re kind of like porcupines – the closer you get to them the more you get poked. Then there are other people who seem to be intentionally difficult. They seem to get some sort of perverse pleasure from being annoying and irritating.
Paul says that we have to learn to deal with such people patiently. In 2 Timothy 2:24 he told us that being patient with people like that is part of our service to the Lord. In Galatians 5:22-23 he wrote that patience is one of the virtues the Holy Spirit will develop in our lives as we grow in spiritual maturity.
The unfortunate truth is that the way we learn to be patient is by having our patience tested and tried. It’s kind of like physical exercise. The way you strengthen a muscle is by working it out, stretching it, and subjecting it to intense pressure. Through that process the muscle grows stronger. It’s the same, unfortunately, with patience. I think God puts abrasive people into our lives to develop our patience.
Are there porcupines in your life right now? Be patient with them. More importantly, are you being a porcupine in someone else’s life? Now, don’t be a wise guy and claim that you’re simply serving as God’s instrument of ministry as He teaches the other person some patience. God also used the Pharaoh of Egypt in Moses life, but that didn’t make Pharaoh a good guy. So if you’re the guy (or gal) with the porcupine personality then you need to pull-in your quills and start being nicer. But if you’re the one whose patience is being tested, please recognize that God is using the occasion to help you grow spiritually.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 