The Patience of Christ
Are you able to recognize the Lord’s patience with you?
Verse of the Day
“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.”
Today’s Devotional
I was humbled this morning reading this verse. When I think back over the evidence of Jesus’s patience with me, and then I compare that with how I am feeling about a few people in my life, there is quite a difference.
Think about the efforts Jesus has gone through to offer you salvation, to get your attention, and to reveal the parts of your heart and life that need His healing. My personal evidence is astounding.
When we look at today’s verses, we see Paul holding up the patience of Jesus with him as an example to the rest of us. What we don’t see, because we are not privy to all of the backstory, are all of the times that Jesus tried to get Paul’s attention prior to the “road to Damascus.” Those instances are not mentioned in Scripture, but I know the character of God, and I know that in my life He always sends gentle signs from multiple sources before He gets dramatic. And the encounter Paul (who was then called Saul) had on the road to Damascus was dramatic.
No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. That’s part of what Paul is trying to emphasize here. Before his conversion, Paul persecuted, imprisoned, and killed people who believed in Jesus. But once Jesus got his attention, Paul became a carrier of Jesus’s saving message and the writer of a large portion of our New Testament. That’s a pretty radical change. And it shows us that no one is “too far gone” for God to redeem. So if we ever fall prey to the lies of unworthiness, we would be wise to remember Paul. We should remind ourselves who Paul was before Jesus, and how beautiful his story became once he fully surrendered to Jesus’s Lordship in his life. The part to remember here is that Paul is not the hero of his story, Jesus is.
When we each look at the evidence of the Lord’s patience with us, when we look at how He has never given up on us, when we look at how He has pursued us… we should fall on our knees in praise, worship, and gratitude. And after that, we should look at how patient we are with others.
God’s kindness, patience, and persistence broke through the barriers in my heart. Now that he is Lord of my life, I need to allow Him to help me treat the people in my life with the same kind of patience. I will not be perfect at living out the patience of Jesus. In fact, I can think of an example from today when I was not very patient with someone. But as I’ve been writing today, God has placed someone on my heart that needs His patience, and He invited me to participate. I reached out to this person, and I prayed for my words to be full of His patience for her. The outcome is out of my hands. I needed this reminder today, of how patient, good, and kind God has been and continues to be with me.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Write about how God has been patient in trying to get your attention.
Write your gratitude for God’s patient, persistent pursuit of your heart.
How and when have you believed the lie of unworthiness? If you still struggle with this, are you a worse sinner than Paul was?
How does the patience of Jesus soften your heart?