I was working away and the Internet dropped out, and then the home-phone wouldn’t work and the next thing I know, I was being told that I would have to wait two and a half weeks for a repair!
Well…several calls later I was advised that I could move the “repair date” up by one day. Oh my, really? It was moved up and the next thing I know, 2 two and a half weeks later, the day arrives and no one shows up. Amazing. Well then I am told for the hundredth time “I am so sorry for your frustration.”
It ends up that the next day before anyone showed up to fix the wiring at the box on my house, viola: the Internet and home phone were suddenly working. Of course the Wi-Fi is still bad and being I have worked all my life on human hearts, I have no real idea of how to Fix the Wi-Fi.
Needless to say, it was all an exercise in frustration and futility with my Internet Service Provider (ISP). Oddly enough, the carrier was not concerned with whether I paid my bill or not (at least that was my interpretation). How odd is that? A billion dollar ISP that doesn’t care about their income…at the expense of performance policy. They want your money, but little if anything will be done concerning your situation.
Sounds about right, doesn’t it? As long as I get what I want, forget about you and your needs.
Oddly enough, this is the exact same response by most, to the Word of God.
It would be easier to understand that they want a “funnel” into your back account that directly deposits whatever amount they like. Trust me when I say this: That funnel will have to have a large open port, for them to be happy. Okay…Okay! I was not exactly the poster child of holiness, when I was talking with them…two and a half weeks later! I digress…I am yet a human… And patience of this magnitude or duration was never my better trait. My lower lip was full of holes, to say the least…and my tongue is sore too!
Now tell me that this was is not an “It’s all about ME” situation.
Being a human, places me square in the middle of that set of crosshairs as much as anyone else. I asked the Lord to forgive me for my anger and to still my heart. I continue to find my Lord is so forgiving, even in the face of my own failings with others. It is simply more evidence that Man is a fallen and corrupt species.
The question is, “Why would I tell you all of this?”
To show that born-again believers are just as much a “work in progress” as anyone else. That the ONLY difference between the saved and the unsaved…is the “saving grace of our Lord and Savior!” AGAIN…it is still the Lord…NOT you and me!
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
I am so thankful, that my Lord chooses to be so gracious to me, despite my failures, despite my inadequacy. My heart may want to be closer to HIS heart and yet, I am but the branch and HE is still the vine! I continue to fail no matter how hard I try to do better, because it was never me, it was HIM showing righteousness through me…to others!
Proverbs 3:1-6: “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
How many of us miss that mark? I know I have. Again, there is a difference here. We began our learning when we were babies and one would think that by old age, we would have better grasp on the virtues of patience, than we actually do. In the grand scheme of things, what relevance does it have with what our Lord wants you and I to learn?
There is the saying, “Patience is a virtue.” Yet most use it to inflict sarcasm where needed. It would seem the Lord has greater patience than you or I could ever imagine. Thus the need for this article, maybe it is more needful for me, than anyone else, but what would it hurt to know it.
I will not preach about anything without looking at my own failures first. The only thing that needs to be said here is this: “We are not perfect by any stretch of the word, we are simply forgiven” and for better or for worse, that IS enough!
John 15:9-17: “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
And so here I stand, having failed again and yet my Lord still blesses me and forgives me. I have no better way of saying it than to turn to the Scriptures and see where “I fail” and HE triumphs despite of me! This my friends, is what this life we live, is for.
We are to live and become what the Lord wants of us, as the Scripture above states, “HE is the Vine and we are the branches…without HIM…we can do
NOTHING!” Point in case. Right?