Sunday, August 19, 2012

The patience of Jesus

UV 496/10,000 James 1 v 3 Trials produce patience Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. The Lord tries the righteous or tests their faith in a variety of situations. Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den. His companions were thrown in a furnace of fire. Jonah was tried in the pit of the stomach of a whale. Joseph was thrown into a pit, and then sold into slavery. Paul experienced ship wreck, imprisonment and flogging. The purpose of such trials is to produce patience in us. It is not just one trial but a series of trials in the course of our lives that the Lord uses to test our faith and build our character in terms of patience and maturity. A sign of maturity and patience is that one is not easily excited or easily enticed. One will not be overly disappointed, depressed or overjoyed. Believers are called to develop the patience of Jesus and not just the patience of Job. The patience of Job enabled him to wait to be restored. The patience of Jesus enables us to wait for all of eternity. Jesus, the Son of God endured all types of trials and hardships in His life on earth before being crucified. His trials were of a higher magnitude than that endured by any other human being. Hence, we cannot complain regardless of the kind of trials we undergo in our lives when Jesus Himself was not spared. When we trust God in these trials, it produces patience in us. We are hopeful and willing to wait for Him to act. We do not become frustrated or do not disbelieve. Imagine the thoughts of Jonah as he was inside the whale. He must have wondered why did God allow this to happen. He must have wondered whether he would ever escape alive. He could not turn to any one else for help. Many of us are caught like Jonah in similar predicaments. It was not a situation that was resolved in a short time but he endured it for three days. He did not give up hope. Jonah before this experience resisted God’s will and ran away in the opposite direction. The ship he was travelling on faced a life threatening storm that ceased only after Jonah submitted to be thrown overboard. Even after this experience, though he obeyed God in taking His message to the people of Nineveh, he remained upset that God did not destroy the city. The Lord again tried him with the intense heat of the sun. The gourd plant that gave him shade was eaten by worms and it perished. This small test upset Jonah so much, he wished to die. The Lord chided him that he had no cause to be upset when he had neither planted nor caused the plant to grow. Prateep V Philip ‘

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