Patience for Life's Irritation 
Life has a lot of minor and major irritations. When we let them get to us, we end up losing our tempers and getting mad and bitter. That’s why God tells us to learn to be patient. When we’re clothed with patience, we can absorb life’s irritations and annoyances. We can absorb them the way a good thick towel absorbs splatters and spills. Sometimes it’s annoying strangers we have to absorb. Like the guy down the block whose dog barks all night, or the driver cruising along at 45 miles per hour in the left lane of the freeway, or the person who cuts in ahead of us in line at the grocery store. Sometimes it’s people in our own family. It’s a fact of life that it’s our nearest and dearest who really try our patience. C. S. Lewis says it well: “When two humans have lived together for many years, it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other.” The Greek word for patience is makrothumia, which is a combination of two words. Makro means “long” and thumia means “temper.” Long-tempered. We all know people who are short-tempered: people who lose patience quickly and blow up in anger. Patience has to do with having a fairly long fuse, being able to absorb life’s annoyances without exploding in anger. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, and that means it’s partly something God does in us. But, developing patience requires some effort on our part, some cooperation with what God is trying to do. It helps to see annoying people, even hurtful people, the way Jesus sees them. We wonder why they’re acting in such an obnoxious way. It could be because of tremendous pain in their lives. Why do they seem so distant and arrogant? It could be they’ve been hurt, and they’re trying to protect themselves from rejection. Why are they so hardened toward the things of God? It could be because they’ve had a terrible loss and they’re blaming God. Try to see that irritating, hurtful person through the eyes of Jesus for you to develop patience. It also helps to keep in mind how incredibly patient God has been with us. How many times have we gotten on God’s nerves? How many times have we come before him and confessed the same ugly sin? How many times have we disregarded him, disobeyed him, disappointed him? And yet, He’s always been there for me. Never given up on us. Never lost patience with us. God says we should put on patience like a godly garment. Patience is part of the family uniform of the people of God. Let’s all be more patient, starting this week. Bro Chito |
