1 Corinthians 13:4 (NET) - Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.
I consider myself a patient man.
Lately, circumstances beyond my control have been trying my patience.
I won’t bore you with details because that might be misinterpreted as complaining.
Being human, I cannot help but wonder why so many things seem to have gone awry.
I can speculate and come up with dozens of potential reasons as to why it appears as if my patience is being tested.
In the end, speculations are all they will remain.
What is important is the one thing I can control.
How I respond.
Just how will I respond?
Will I get angry?
Will I choose to give up?
Will I act without thinking?
Not one of these options is good.
These options are not ‘responses’.
They are ‘reactions’.
If I allow myself to get angry, I will be allowing the situations to get the best of me.
If I allow myself to give up, I will be admitting defeat.
If I allow to myself act without thinking, I could very possibly take a complicated situation and make it even worse.
So how am I to respond?
I cannot put it more eloquently than one of my favorite old hymns did.
Take It to the Lord in Prayer.
That is my first step.
I must then make myself open to His leading.
Once His leading is revealed, I must be willing to follow His leading.
Finally, I must continue to be patient.
I must remind myself that things happen according to God’s timetable, not mine.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NET) - God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.
I must be patient with God.
Speaking as a sinner, I know that He has been more than patient with me.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 25, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, December 9, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Importance of Clarity
Sometimes, instructions that are supposed to be straightforward turn out to be confusing.
One of the highways that I frequently travel runs for miles in an East to West direction in the area in which I live.
Farther away the highway actually begins in a South to North direction. So, that is the official designation it is assigned.
A few years ago, I took a trip by car and got a bit of a surprise on my way home.
As I exited one highway in order to return home, I planned on simply heading East.
I looked at the signs posted overhead to determine which lane I needed to occupy.
Instead of being presented with the choices of East and West which I had grown accustomed to, I was presented the choices of North and South (the official designation).
Which way should I turn?
North? Perhaps.
South? Maybe.
The truth was I simply did not know how best to proceed based on the options I was offered.
I had a fifty-fifty chance. I had to make a choice and I had to make it quickly.
I chose a direction and it just happened that I had made the correct choice.
I could just as easily have chosen incorrectly and found myself headed away from home instead of toward it.
Confusing instructions are not just confined to road signs.
Once I purchased a kit with which I could modify the audio output on an old stereo.
The kit was put together in a different country and the people who put this kit together understood electronics very well. Unfortunately for me, they did not understand English very well.
After installing the kit, I turned on the stereo and found the sound to be uncomfortably loud.
I quickly turned it off and read the instructions.
One of their instructions read, "If volume is too loud, adjust the."
"The" what?
Obviously a critical word had been omitted and I had to make adjustments using trial and error until I got the volume back to a desirable level.
Fortunately for me, God’s instructions are perfectly clear.
John 3:16-17 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
These words are clear, concise and to the point.
They tell me exactly why God sent Jesus Christ into this world.
What about the consequences of sin?
Romans 6:23 (NET) - For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Again, God’s Word is very clear and leaves no room for error.
In this world I will be subject to directions and instructions that will not always be clear or easy to understand.
God goes beyond providing me with very clear instructions in His Word.
He also provides me with the answer... Jesus Christ.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 18, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, November 25, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
One of the highways that I frequently travel runs for miles in an East to West direction in the area in which I live.
Farther away the highway actually begins in a South to North direction. So, that is the official designation it is assigned.
A few years ago, I took a trip by car and got a bit of a surprise on my way home.
As I exited one highway in order to return home, I planned on simply heading East.
I looked at the signs posted overhead to determine which lane I needed to occupy.
Instead of being presented with the choices of East and West which I had grown accustomed to, I was presented the choices of North and South (the official designation).
Which way should I turn?
North? Perhaps.
South? Maybe.
The truth was I simply did not know how best to proceed based on the options I was offered.
I had a fifty-fifty chance. I had to make a choice and I had to make it quickly.
I chose a direction and it just happened that I had made the correct choice.
I could just as easily have chosen incorrectly and found myself headed away from home instead of toward it.
Confusing instructions are not just confined to road signs.
Once I purchased a kit with which I could modify the audio output on an old stereo.
The kit was put together in a different country and the people who put this kit together understood electronics very well. Unfortunately for me, they did not understand English very well.
After installing the kit, I turned on the stereo and found the sound to be uncomfortably loud.
I quickly turned it off and read the instructions.
One of their instructions read, "If volume is too loud, adjust the."
"The" what?
Obviously a critical word had been omitted and I had to make adjustments using trial and error until I got the volume back to a desirable level.
Fortunately for me, God’s instructions are perfectly clear.
John 3:16-17 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
These words are clear, concise and to the point.
They tell me exactly why God sent Jesus Christ into this world.
What about the consequences of sin?
Romans 6:23 (NET) - For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Again, God’s Word is very clear and leaves no room for error.
In this world I will be subject to directions and instructions that will not always be clear or easy to understand.
God goes beyond providing me with very clear instructions in His Word.
He also provides me with the answer... Jesus Christ.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 18, 2011.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, November 25, 2011.
Schedule subject to change.
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