Sunday, June 26, 2011

How is God so patient with us?

If you’re anything like me – you make the same mistakes over and over. The sins that we struggle with the most are the ones that we often repeat - makes sense, doesn't it?  Sometimes it’s hard to ask for forgiveness for these sins because we know we just asked to be forgiven for them. It's like "God I know I just stumbled again, but please forgive me - AGAIN".

I started thinking about how awesome God’s love for us is. He is an awesome parent when it comes to patience. Our Father in heaven loves us through everything we do and shows us continued grace over and over as we often repeat our sins. It's hard to understand God's unwavering patience at times, but it’s certainly easier to understand if you understand God’s timeline. In 2 Peter 3:8 – it says “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”.  So if you look at our lives on God’s timeline – our whole life has been but a very short time for God.

I like to think of it this way. When God got up this morning and had His first cup of coffee – my entire life has passed before Him. Pretty cool premise. All of His disappointments with my struggles have been while He spent time over that very first cup. To Him, it hasn't necessarily been 10, 15, or 20 years of disobedience - just the dawn of His day.

God has big plans for all of our lives. His dreams for us are bigger than we can imagine. We all have a purpose. It's important for us to understand that. As we try to improve ourselves day by day, God's patience is there because His days are as big as He is. Our entire lives are a blink of an eye to God. He knows our hearts, our intentions, and our actions. As long as we are sincerely working towards improving our lives - serving Him by showing obedience - and asking for forgiveness for our shortcomings - God's grace is present because of His abounding love for us. He will equip you with the ability to overcome any brokenness that you may carry around with you. He will give you all the tools you need to live the life He has for you. Just pray everyday for the wisdom and understanding to know. Remember this always - God's Will for you will never take you where His Grace won't protect you!


I hope God delights in me on his second cup...
HFIA