What is patience?

BQ: There are various fruits of the Spirit, and now I'm startin' to look at patience, which is probably the one I need to look at the most. Broadly, what is patience as seen in the Bible?

A: Various theological lexicons agree that patience from the original texts can be viewed as "the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate for a wrong—as opposed to wrath or revenge; a long holding out of the mind, before it gives room to action or to passion." 

God's patience can be seen with Saul of Tarsus (later Paul) who murdered many Christians. As Paul notes in 1 Tim 1:16, "I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." 

While the above doesn't seem that astounding at face value, put yourself in God's place. Often times we don't have patience with people who simply irritate us with little things, yet God had patience with Paul as Paul did much worse. Do you hastily retaliate for a wrong, or do you look far down the road to possible reconciliation?

BQ: Yesterday we started a look into patience and saw that it's a slowness to retaliate. What can patience accomplish in relationships?

A: Ephesians 4:1-3 discusses patience and notes that we should, "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

 Many relationships lack peace—between friends, spouses; you name it—but often patience is missing too.  The result of patience is both the preservation of unity and the creation of peace, and if we want to be worthy of bearing the title, "Christian," we have to master our passion and have patience. How much patience do you have? 

BQ: A particular problem of mine is hard to really articulate. When I see something un-Christlike, I often have the ugly habit of being irritated, but in a retaliatory sense (and obviously I'm not spotless myself, so it's an even less-attractive quality).  What does God say my response should be?

A: 2 Tim 4:2 "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction." 

Instead of being a snot about things, I should be learning to provide accurate, patient instruction, helping and assisting whoever I'm irritated with to unlock their potential for greatness. It's the same thing that I'd want for myself, and it's impossible to accomplish without patience.


 

BQ: Patience is somewhat unique in who it should be applied to. 1 Thess 5:14 says, "We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone." 

Notice that the solution for the unruly is admonishment and to assist the fainthearted requires encouragement, but patience is a requirement in dealing with every single person we encounter. I often want to have "selective patience," but God's pretty clear that I'm in the wrong if I go down that road. Do you have patience with all people? 


 

BQ: When someone does you wrong, it's payback time, right? Patience, as we saw, is a long abstinence from retaliation. Matthew 18:21-22 says, "Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Think about everything we've learned about patience.  It's something that we must have with everyone, forgiveness requires it, and it both creates peace and preserves unity in relationships. How much patience do you have? How could your relationships be improved through being steadfast in patience?

What is faithfulness?

BQ:  What is faithfulness? 

A: Throughout the Bible, God is referred to as being faithful without deviation. Many portions of the Bible look at specific ways in which He is faithful, such as, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor 10.13) All theological lexicons which examine the original Greek and Aramaic agree that the word for faithful means, "reliable." 

Consider the verse above. When we're tempted, God is reliable in providing us with avenues for escape. I used to make excuses for doing some pretty worldly things; in essence, the people I was hanging out with and the things I was doing WERE my life. I couldn't imagine "just sitting around being Christian." But when I decided to change, all of a sudden I had tons of Christian friends who wanted to do things that were a total blast! 

I wasn't reliable at first, but God was. I avoided developing deep friendships with my spiritual family, and instead spent all my free time with worldly people, and ended up looking much like them. If you have that sort of issue, realize that God is faithful and is providing you other opportunities which are far better—you just have to pursue them. 

PS-If you haven't caught on yet, I've been doing minor word studies on words from Gal 5:22-23, which says, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, FAITHFULNESS, gentleness, self-control.” 



BQ: Yesterday we saw that God is faithful or reliable, and that He provides us with ways to escape sin 100% of the time. When you examine yourself, are you reliably worldly or reliably like Jesus? Does it matter if you're not that reliable/faithful?
 

A: "Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful?" (1 Cor 4:2) If we want to be true stewards, we must be faithful.  Consider yourself. Are you faithful to God? Do you treat your relationship casually? If you were married, would you treat it the same way? Will God call you a faithful servant? Or a servant who considered being faithful but didn't make the effort to build the relationship? How can you become a more reliable servant?

BQ: In the past however many years, I've come to realize that one huge aspect of finding a mate is finding one who is faithful. As we've come to learn, faithful doesn't just mean not sleeping around on your spouse; rather, it means being wholly reliable. I've met a lot of people who are like I was—not faithful, but with a desire to become so—and a lot who are like I currently am, which I'd define as "not there yet, but getting a lot better!"
 

Are you one of those people who isn't very faithful to Christ, but wants to get there? Do you ever do something you know He won't be happy with and then regret it? The cool thing is that God understands and is patient, and He encourages us to grow. Consider this about Moses, "just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house” (Hebrews 3:2). Did you know that Moses had a really rough, unreliable start?  In fact, from Exodus 3 and 4, look at what Moses said when he was called to lead the people, he had these excuses: 

1.) "Who am I?" (11) 
2) “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” (13)

3) “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘Jehovah did not appear to you.’” (4.1)

4) “I am not eloquent ... I am slow of speech and of tongue.” (4.10)

5) “Please send someone else.” (4.13)

Moses wasn't exactly batting a thousand at first. Drop the excuses and learn from Moses! Master your desires and choose to serve God and become faithful! A rough start doesn't preclude a ferocious, faithful finish! 

BQ: We've learned a lot about various words from Galatians 5. Words like justice/righteousness, mercy/kindness, and faithfulness/reliability. Some people hold to a form of religiousness without accomplishing God's will. What does God say about that?

A: Mt 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others."

There are those words again. Look at them carefully. God's "chosen" people failed. They polished the outside of the cup, but inside it was gross and worldly. How are you inside? Are you clean inside and out, or is there still nasty, dark junk deep inside?  Notice how God words the sentence, too. It starts with righteousness, which is succeeded by mercy, and which is trumped by faithfulness. Faithfulness is the ultimate goal. It is reliability. It is an attitude of justice but painted with love and mercy and patience.

How's the inside of your cup? 





BQ:  Today is our last recap of faithfulness, which is defined as trustworthiness and reliability. Proverbs 20:6 says, "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?"
 

It took me about 24 years to REALLY get the guts to examine myself. Up until that age, I'd look at myself briefly, but I'd quickly stop. In Acts 24:25, Felix held Paul prisoner and questioned him. The situation went like this: "And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”

I was the same. I proclaimed steadfast love, but like Felix, when I would try to examine myself versus the truth, I'd become afraid and push it out of my mind and pretend that it didn't happen. At some point, though, we all need to look at the bad habits that we're choosing to keep and admit them. The first step is always admitting that we have a problem. The only way to become reliable is to start getting rid of everything that makes you unfaithful. Don't put it off. Look for ways to start replacing evil with good. 

What does "good" mean?

BQ: What is good or goodness? Various lexicons, both theological and not, use the following descriptors to define them: uprightness of heart and life, kindness, useful, pleasant, excellent; honorable. The Bible defines goodness also by using comparison and contrast. Can you guess what it compares goodness with? 

A: Strangely, the contrast used to define goodness is between it and righteousness! For example, in Romans 5:7, God says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though for a good person one would dare even to die." 

What? We're so used to striving to be righteous (in our own minds) that we get terms somewhat muddled. Goodness is set about righteousness here, because righteousness is equated with pure justice.   A just man is one who gives to men what is their due. Goodness, however, is the quality which is out to do far more than that, and which desires to give a man all that is to his benefit and his help; it is the generosity which gives a man what he never could have earned. 

I am very blessed to know people who are so good that one would dare even to die for them. What about you? 



BQ: Yesterday we learned about what "good" is, so today I'm just looking at people who were described as being "good." Can you name a woman who was called good? 

A: (Acts 9:36-39) "Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room...All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them."

Tabitha was described as being a person who did good things, and those things notably included acts of charity, such as making clothes. Sometimes we forget that we each need to be engaged in such endeavors if we really want to be good people. It's the reason that James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Do you strive?

Do you strive?
BQ: Spiritual apathy is present in most of Christianity. "Why go to church every week? Why read the Bible? My pastor/reverend/etc. is smart and takes care of me. I believe in God and I'm a good person..."  What would happen if we took the same approach to eating? If we said, "I think I'm good enough, I'll eat once a week...once a year."

Q: What do we do to enter the narrow gate? What did Jesus Himself say we keep us spiritually alive? 
A: Lk 13:24; Mt 4:4

Just wanting heaven isn't enough. We have to STRIVE to get in. We need to know ALL of the words, not just what a pastor or church leader says.  Being a "best-behavior-Sunday-only" Christian is the wide road to destruction. Jms 1:21 says, " Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." Read that again. It's a salvation issue. Let's put aside perversion and start getting to know God's word.
(PN72)
 

What is "good?"

BQ: What is good or goodness? Various lexicons, both theological and not, use the following descriptors to define them: uprightness of heart and life, kindness, useful, pleasant, excellent; honorable. The Bible defines goodness also by using comparison and contrast. Can you guess what it compares goodness with? 

A: Strangely, the contrast used to define goodness is between it and righteousness! For example, in Romans 5:7, God says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though for a good person one would dare even to die." 

What? We're so used to striving to be righteous (in our own minds) that we get terms somewhat muddled. Goodness is set about righteousness here, because righteousness is equated with pure justice.   A just man is one who gives to men what is their due. Goodness, however, is the quality which is out to do far more than that, and which desires to give a man all that is to his benefit and his help; it is the generosity which gives a man what he never could have earned. 

I am very blessed to know people who are so good that one would dare even to die for them. What about you?