Patience

Message Scripture:

“Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4 (ASV)

Introduction:

Greetings Everyone!  It’s been a minute since I wrote and posted anything new here.  So, I thought while you’re waiting for the final message in the “Finding Your Way Back To God” series that I’d bring over another message from Evernote that I wrote during my surgery recovery.  I believe that this is the right time to re-release this message, and see what else God has to say to us through it.  So, without any further delay…let’s get into this message simply titled…

Patience:

I’m only three days into my recovery from having hernia surgery, and the operative word (pardon the pun) for me right now really is patience.  I know it’s hard to believe, but the reason I need to be patient is simply because I feel better than I thought I would.  I was expecting to be in a whole lot more pain and discomfort, but glory to God…I am not. I know that it’s because so many of you are praying for me, and I greatly appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes.

The thing of it is, however, is while I may feel better than I thought I would…the truth is my body needs the full amount of recovery time for the repairs the surgeon made to start to work like they are supposed to.  In other words, the work the surgeon did requires me to be patient so that the work he did will work exactly the way it was supposed to…and if I’m not patient I can undo the work he did to repair my physical body.

This brings me to the very important point about us being patient with the workmanship that God is doing in our lives…to repair us spiritually, emotionally, and yes…even physically.

We need to allow ourselves time and room to grow, mature, and become the men and women God is molding us to become. None of us ever becomes the people God (or we) want to become overnight.  Listen…surgery was an event, and so is salvation.  However, just like recovering from surgery is a process…so too is sanctification…and quite frankly the rest of the Christian walk with God.  I like to say that salvation is an event while sanctification is a life-long process.  It takes minutes to be saved, but it takes an entire life time to become the people God had planned and destined for us to become.

It’s going to take time for the repairs the surgeon made to do what they are intended to do.  The surgeon even took time to explain that while it may feel like everything is okay it’s not.  The mesh that was implanted will take care of the tear, but it will take several weeks for it to start to gel with my body.  So, in order for the mesh to do what it’s supposed to do I have to take it easy for a few weeks, and I actually have to make a follow-up visit to make sure that it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing.  It’s going to take time for the repairs to do what is necessary to fix what took years to get to the point of needing to be repaired.

Many of us when we come to Jesus have taken years (some of us decades) to become the broken and hurting people we were that needed Jesus to repair our lives.  The thing of it is we get frustrated with the process of sanctification.  We’re saved in an instant, but becoming the men and women God destined for us to become takes a life-time.  Look, I didn’t get saved one day, and become Pastor Bryan the next day.  It took time for me to become the person that is writing these messages today, and just like many of you I got frustrated at times until God took time to show me that becoming who He wanted me to become was going to take years.

We have to be patient with the work that God wants to do in, with, and through our lives.  Like I always say salvation takes a moment, but we’re going to continue being molded and shaped into the people God wants us to be for the rest of our lives.  There’s no rush or hurry…the trying of our faith is supposed to produce patience…and other translations say the trying of our faith produces perseverance and endurance.

Relax!

You aren’t going to accomplish anything by trying to rush the process.  If I were to try to rush the process of my recovery from surgery there are a lot of things that could go wrong.  If I try picking up my daughter before I’m allowed to I could injury the area I just had repaired, and there are other things that could go wrong if I try rushing the recovery process.  That’s why patience is required.

So…if you aren’t where you thought you’d be by now…it’s okay.  You are exactly where you are supposed to be.  Be patient with the process, and learn to bloom where you are planted.  You have the rest of your life to work at becoming the men and women God has destined for you to be.

Let’s Pray:

Lord, thank You for helping me through this recovery process.  Thank You for this message on patience.  It’s hard, some times both in the natural and the spiritual to be patient with where we are in life whether it’s me in my recovery from surgery, or whether it’s where we am in the process of growing to becoming the men and women You want us to be.  Lord, help us to cut ourselves a little more slack, and to understand that many of us took decades to get to the place we were before You began to fix and repair our lives.  Thank You for all the work that You’ve done, all the work that You have yet to do, and all the work that You are doing in, with, and through our lives.  To You be the glory, Lord.  In Jesus name. Amen

In Closing:

I just hear in my heart the words “give yourselves a break”.  It’s taken me a few days into this recovery process to understand that trying to rush things along will do more harm than good.  I can also tell you that God isn’t going to rush any of us along in the process that He’s walking us through.  The thing is we can’t look at where someone else is in their walk, and judge ourselves by where they are.  God knows where each and every one of us is in the process of our lives…and He’s the One that is doing the work.

So…give yourselves a break.  You’ll get to where you are supposed to be, but only on God’s time.  Relax and trust God to walk you through step by step until you are where He wants you to be.  How will you know where that is?  I don’t know where it will be.  I always say that I’m nowhere near where I’m supposed to be, but I also know I’m nothing like I used to be. Eventually…you’ll be able to see progress, and you’ll be able to see you’re in a different place today than you were a year ago…that’s allowing patience to have its perfect work.

When patience perfect work is finished you’ll be complete and lacking nothing.  Here’s a little hint.  The only time we’ll ever be complete and lacking nothing is when we’re home in Heaven with Jesus.  The rest of our lives here in the world is our time to develop and become the people God designed us to become.

Some of us are further along than others, but every one of us is in the exact place we’re supposed to be.

So, let patience have it’s perfect work…and give yourselves a break…God isn’t finished with any of us yet…in fact for many of us (myself included) He’s just getting started.

Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Blessings & Grace to you,

Pastor B