I am impatient. I really want to be patient, but just like the cartoon illustrates, I don't want to wait to be patient. I don't want to put in the hard work.
One of my major pet peeves, always seems to occur at Wal-mart. You know those lines that are for 10 or 20 items or less? The point of those lines is to make it easier for the shopper with only a few items to get through the line faster. It's a great idea. If it worked. What kills me is when you get in line at the 10 items or less line and the person in front of you has like 57 items in their cart. You can try to give them a dirty look to hopefully make them repent. I try that sometimes, but usually that doesn't work. They just give you this what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it look, and then they continue piling their stuff on the counter. Agh. I can't deal with that. Just to be clear, let me explain a little about myself. I am a rule follower. Seriously, ask my mom. I like to follow rules, and it really bothers me when others don't. I never break the 10 items or less rule. You may be saying, "Ha, sure you don't," with a sarcastic tone in your voice. But, I guarantee you, I always count every single item in my cart to make sure I am following this rule. Call me OCD or whatever you want. I just like to follow the rules. So, after reading this little rant you are probably convinced that I have a problem with patience.
Lance was teaching on patience last night with the youth. He showed the little cartoon, and I thought it was so great I had to blog about it. He also had a list of verses from the Bible that focus on patience. All the verses were good, but one of them really stuck out to me. In fact, it distracted me from the rest of the lesson. I couldn't stop reading and rereading this verse. It is a verse written by Paul to his young friend Timothy. Let me share it with you. Read it a couple of times.
But for this very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. Timothy 1:16
Did you read it a couple times? What did you think? This blew my mind.
Paul was once a really bad guy in the Bible. His name was once Saul. He was so evil that he persecuted the early church and killed anyone who believed in Jesus. He was proud and arrogant. In his words, he was the "worst of sinners." In this verse, Paul is saying that Jesus showed him mercy, in order to display His amazing patience. Paul calls it immense patience. Jesus was immensely patient with Paul, so that Paul's story could be an example of forgiveness. This means that Jesus is also immensely patient with us. Before we had Jesus in our hearts we were just like Paul, "the worst of sinners." And even now, as imperfect people Jesus has to daily be patient with us. As another example, think about what Jesus told Peter when he asked how many times should he forgive people who sin against him? Jesus' answer was "seventy times seven." Think about that. Jesus told Peter to forgive over and over again, Therefore, we can be sure that he believes and does the same. Jesus forgives us over and over again. That is immense patience.
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