“Be patient with
everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).
Let’s look at
the flow surrounding “be patient with everyone,” what do you see?
“Live in peace
with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the
fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays
evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for
all people” (1 Thess. 5:13 – 15).
Peace is married
to patience; patience is married to peace. Without peace we have no patience
and without patience we have no peace – and without Jesus Christ we have no
true peace or patience. The patience and peace of which the Scriptures speak
flow from the Person of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Father.
“The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” (Gal. 5:22).
“Love is patient,
love is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4).
To “admonish,
encourage, and help” requires both peace and patience.
Paul writes to
Timothy, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,
able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting…” (2 Tim. 2:24
– 25).
“Preach the
word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great
patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).
We can be an
agenda-driven people and miss the Presence, Person, and Character of Jesus
Christ. We can “do things” without the Holy Spirit. We can pressure one
another, manipulate one another, and “convince” one another that we should do
this or that, without loving one another, finding joy in one another, having
peace with one another, being patient with one another.
Paul writes that
we are to have “all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing
longsuffering for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2).
What do you
think? Is our tendency to look at what we “do” as a people, or is it to
consider who we are as a people? That is, do we tend to look at our actions and
not so much at our character in Jesus Christ? Do we look at the outward and not
at the inward?
Is our admonishing
done in peace and patience?
I have included,
“See that no one repays another evil for evil” in our reflection because if we
are not living in the peace and patience of Christ the possibility of responding
to evil with evil is greatly increased – our tendency is often to strike back
at others when we are hurt, to give others the evil they have given us.
The life of the
Body of Christ which Paul describes in our extended passage (1 Thess. 5:12 –
28), is only possible as we are at peace with one another and are patient with
one another; this peace and patience must be the peace and patience of Christ.
Perhaps, in some
ways, we are all in too much of a hurry to know peace and patience. Perhaps we
are so agenda driven, so insistent on producing programs, increasing
membership, raising money, becoming “bigger and better” that we have no
patience with patience and can’t be still long enough to know the peace of
Jesus Christ. What do you think?
Should Mary come
into our gatherings and wish to sit at the feet of Jesus, or should the woman
who “wasted” the precious ointment on our Lord appear in our mist, would we
have patience with them?
For myself, as
much as I honor those who practice the Presence, peace, and patience of Christ,
I admit that I have not only often fallen short of the command and ideal, but I
have grievously erred and done damage by violating the peace and patience of
Jesus Christ. My foolishness and sinfulness have caused much pain from time to
time. My decisions outside the patience and peace of Christ have been terrible
and I live with their consequences.
Why, O why do we
violate the patience and peace of Christ? Why do we pollute our relationships?
For myself, I
think fear and anxiety and insecurity play a large part. If something or
someone is a threat to me, do I rest in Jesus? Do I seek to bless the other
person? Am I willing to offer myself on the altar of the Cross of Christ? Do I
believe that Jesus will always be with me and care for me?
If you have ever
been through hard times, really hard times, then you may know the temptation to
fear that it will happen again in some way, shape, or form. Whether those hard
times are emotional, mental, material, spiritual, or all wrapped together, the
scar tissue often remains and when similar situations arise we may indeed fear
what lies ahead. But once again, Jesus is not only with us, but He has also
gone before us and He will never leave us nor forsake us.
If our security
is based on our production, on us measuring up to standards by what we do, by
being useful and necessary, then things that threaten our “value” can elicit
anger and defensiveness and we can soon find ourselves outside the Presence,
peace, and patience of Christ Jesus.
Perhaps at the
entrance to our church buildings we ought to have a sign that says, “Be patient
with everyone.”
Perhaps as I
begin each day, I ought to remind myself, “Be patient with everyone.”
What do you
think?
