Tuesday, July 8, 2008;
Patience with Imperfection
? 8:26 AM
Patience with Imperfection
2008/07/08
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
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Today’s guest devotional is by Jon Walker –
Humorist Dave Barry says, “A perfect parent is a person with excellent child-rearing theories and no actual children.”
The same could be said of a perfect world or a perfect family; there’s only one way to mess things up: People!
Living with imperfect people requires patience, and you – now I say this as a friend – are one of the imperfect people who requires patience! Unfortunately, I’m an imperfect person too.
Patience means putting up with me when you’d rather lose your temper; it means forgiving me when you’d rather nurture a grudge.
In addition, patience is a muzzle on a mouth full of murmurs that are passed along as prayer requests. Patience puts the long in long-suffering. Patience is love in action because “love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV).
Patience and a critical spirit are mutually exclusive. Even when your complaints are justified, patience pushes and pulls you toward forgiving and forgetting: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11 NIV).
Being patient may try our patience, but we become stronger when we learn to love imperfect people. Patience frees us to develop godly diversity in our relationships, where we no longer require everyone to act and look and think the same way we do.
The above message taken from The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional.
http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/en-US/FreeTools/devotional/todaysDevo/Devotional.htm?a=2653&z=1
After reading today's devotional, it struck me very hard. Cause God had been reinforcing the word and power of love in me these few days. I started on Monday a new journey with my Purpose Driven Life book for a renewal session.
Upon reading the second day on "You Are Not An Accident.", I came across this part that says of God's love and it brought me back to the part when Jesus answered the disciples on the important parts of the 10 commandments in which the first 3 is all about love. Love God with all our heart, body, mind and soul. Honour our parents (showering and showing love unto them). Love you neighbour as yourself.
Then I realised the true meaning of love your neighbour as yourself. Loving your neighbour as yourself not loving your neighbour the way you want to be treated. Nor is it to treat them how they want to be treated. But is to love our neighbour as though we are loving ourselves. It means how we treat ourselves, we treat others as though they are us.
Amen!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
