Endurance and Patience

It’s been too long since I got to preach! Back at it again, this time we spent some time in Col 1:11, and talked about the difference between endurance, which is our capacity or stamina to keep going, and patience, which is the inner attitude that is willing to pay the pain price and doesn’t give way to entitlement, anger, self-pity, and complaints during the trial…As usual, God’s interest is on the “inside job,” Christ being formed in us and expressed through us, not in making sure life goes our way or in helping us “fix,” or “save” others. The best thing we can do for others is to radiate the love and peace of Christ.

God is good, my friends! His way of thinking and living (yoke) is easy and his burden is light (Matt 11)! Those who keep on seeking and trusting in God will renew their strength (Is 40), and the best advice God gave me for how to heal is to forget what’s behind and press on toward the goal of knowing Jesus and discovering life in him, precisely through pain, not in spite of it (Phil 3).

Bees don’t presume to know their larger purpose and impact. All they know is that they like nectar. They don’t know, or need to know, that God has them pollinating the flowers and fruit trees and benefiting the entire ecosystem. They have no idea. All they know is nectar is good. So what brings the nectar in your life? What activity, when you do it, brings the Spirit of God down? Do that, and be content, and happy. Let God worry about your larger impact on the world. When we worry too much about our “ministry” we give birth to Ishmael’s and become embittered Martha’s, making sandwiches Jesus didn’t order, while resenting both Jesus and others. Become a Mary! Acquire a spirit of peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved.

grace and peace