The Long and the Short of It
Theme of the Week: Impatience and What's Behind It
Bob Lepine
Monday, February 5, 2007
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Key Bible Verse: Love is patient. … Love is not irritable 1 Corinthians 13:4, 5.Bonus Reading: Romans 5:3-5
What happens when your wife inconveniences you? Does she have habits that "get on your nerves"? For example, you ask her about her day, and she tells you—in Technicolor, with footnotes! You get links to other sites in her brain along the way. And all the time, you're thinking, Will you please land this plane! What's the point? What's the main idea?
In older translations of [today's Key Bible Verses], you'll read, "love suffereth long" (ASV). The root of impatience is usually selfishness. We're not getting what we want or what we think we deserve. We don't suffer long; rather, we think we've suffered long enough!
A young Christian man asked an older believer to intercede for him. "Pray that I'll grow in patience," he asked earnestly. His friend suggested that they pray together right then and there.
"Lord," the older man began, "I pray that You'll bring trials and tribulations into Ben's life this very day. I pray that he'll experience trouble this morning and again this afternoon. I pray … "
"Wait, please!" the younger man interrupted. "I wanted you to pray that I'd grow in patience!"
"That's what I was doing," the older man replied.
—Bob Lepine in The Christian Husband
My Response: What irritant may God be using in my life to produce endurance?
Adapted from The Christian Husband (Regal, 1999) by permission.
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Thank You, Lord, for Your infinite patience. Grant me a composure of spirit that reflects Your character.
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