Patience. An Uncommon Virtue Today.

Microwaves.  Self-checkouts.  24-hour convenient stores.  Credit cards.  "Get Rich Quick" schemes.  New Year's resolution diets/workouts.

All of these I listed above have many things in common, but at the top of it all is a lack of patience.  In our culture, we want "stuff" now... not to mention it has to be extremely fast or else we'll get irritated.  At least, many times, that describes me.  In fact, the lack of patience results in an irrational decision-making process.  I skip all of the steps in between to get to what I want.  Isn't life about making sound decisions?  The Bible says, God have us Power, Love, and a Sound Mind... so then why is it that we often make decisions that don't reflect the love of Jesus and the sound mind he gave us?  It's a lack of patience.  I don't mean patience in the sense of, "I'm waiting on the LORD," and you NEVER do anything or act on His Word.  I'm referring to patience when it comes to making hasty decisions without counting the cost and facing tough times.

A powerful quote says, "Patience knows that one definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure."  Yes, delaying pleasure can be extremely difficult in a culture we live in today.  Absolutely.  However, that's the perfect opportunity to work our discipline and diligence in the face of adverse situations.  I love the analogy of gold, and it's process.  Consider you and I to be gold, and if we have patience, our patience is golden.  Gold is formed from heat, pure gold that is.  It doesn't start off pure though.  Isn't that just like us?  We go through life, or as I've heard before - life happens.  Impurities settle in, we make unpleasing decisions, we sin, we live unholy, etc.  Well, to purify gold, the goldsmith stokes the fire to bring the gold to a boil.  And as the gold boils, the impurities rise to the top.  In 2013, God wants us to know that we're fire proof, but we have to go through the HEAT!  The goldsmith skims off the junk, or the mess as we would call it in our lives, until he can see himself - his reflection.  I believe that's what God does.  When we have patience, and when we obediently submit to His perfect will, we go through the fire.  Doesn't that sound familiar?  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  God will sift the junk in our lives until He can look at us and see His reflection.  That requires patience.  Do people see Jesus in you?  Has your patience dwindled in life?  This is an opportunity for you and I to build up our patience - but remember, that means we sometimes have to face some tough and challenging times.  Like Paul's attitude when he said, "it's but a light affliction," I'm reminded by the LORD that He's made us fireproof!  I'm going through the fire!  Thank you Jesus!