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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received...be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4:1-2b
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
God calls everyone but not everyone answers His call.
It was true in biblical times and unfortunately it is still true today.
For those who do answer the call of the Maker and Master of Creation, there are expectations that the Lord expects, behaviors that show a person is worthy of the calling they have received.
Yesterday, we started looking at the opening verses of Ephesians, chapter 4 where we find the Apostle Paul encouraging the Christians in Ephesus to display certain traits that would show them worthy of the calling God had given them. In Part 1, we saw how the Lord desires that believers be completely humble and gentle in the way they live. Today, we add two more important qualities of those called. Look at these words again here:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received...be patient, bearing with one another in love. Vv. 1-2b
Let’s examine these separately, starting with patience.
Let’s face it. Tolerance isn’t exactly a strong suit of most people these days, even in the church. It seems more and more like people are unwilling to hang in there and put up with people who might annoy or delay them.
What gets on your nerves the most?
If you answer that question honestly, you will be able to identify your impatience triggers.
Maybe it’s whenever you are in a checkout line at the store, there is only one register open, and the cashier is working incredibly slow.
Or maybe it’s when your internet connection slows down right when you are trying to download or stream something.
Or perhaps you are on the interstate and needing to get somewhere and the person in front of you is texting someone while driving slower than anyone else in the fast lane.
I could go on and on with examples but you get the point. There are a lot of moments that happen in any one week that serve to test our patience. And don’t think that the Lord isn’t watching to see how we behave in these situations. He wants to see if we exercise patience, a fruit of the Spirit by the way (Galatians 5:22-23), and show that we are worthy of the calling He has given.
Now, I don’t think it’s a reach to say we are all works in progress when it comes to the matter of patience. Thankfully, we find the Apostle Paul provide one additional quality we need to exhibit as we carry out our calling. He exhorts Christians to bear with one another in love.
Note here that love is the key to being patient with others. We simply have to allow our love for others, and especially our Lord, override our impatience.
Love breeds tolerance and allows us to bear with one another. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. We don’t have the wherewithal to do it on our own. No one is that strong.
But with the Lord’s help and by His power, we can do all things. This is why we need to be in constant prayer over the matter of patience. If you’re feeling annoyance and aggravation beginning to rise up, turn to the Lord in prayer and ask Him for the strength to bear with the source of your irritation out of love. This will keep you from allowing your frustration to lead you into sinful responses, responses that are not indicative of someone who has been called by the Lord. Call on God and He will never let you down. He’ll always help you respond in ways that will glorify Him and assist you in becoming more the person He wants you to be, a person who shows that he or she is worthy of His calling.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the call to unity and peace.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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