“May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5 NLT)
Growing takes time. I remember thinking I was never going to turn 16 so I could begin to drive legally. Then I blinked and I was 32, then 48, etc. Time is relative based largely on that for which we’re waiting. What are you waiting for in this season of your life? A job? A spouse? A “break” of some sort? An apology? A healing? What about for “a full understanding and expression of the love of God?”
Realizing Paul took great advantage of the insights the Lord gave Him as He gave expression to His grasp of God’s love in ways that now reverberate in and through our hearts and minds, how do we get there? How do we make those connections in our own walk with the Lord? Here’s the deal – we have the same access to the Savior and to His Father that Paul had. So, the question becomes: “Are WE accessing that vast resource while we’re waiting? Are we tapping the same Holy Spirit resource that Paul used?”
What might that look like? How about rich and rewarding insights into who Jesus is and why He came? He’s the embodiment of love. He voluntarily laid down His life for no other reason than His love for us. How does that awesome reality apply to me and you?
Are we waiting before the Lord? Pondering? Agonizing over our desire to know Him better? Listening to Him more carefully? Walking with Him more closely? Loving Him more intimately? The reality is, the Lord will never be closer to me or you than He is in this moment! He’s as close as we allow Him to be. If we want His Holy presence to be real, alive, meaningful, productive, it will be. We’re the hindrance, not the Lord.
If we long for and desire “the patient endurance that comes from Christ,” it’s ours for the asking. It’s comforting and, on some levels, more than we can comprehend, that the God of creation will sit with us, abide with us, teach, guide, inform, empower, and invest us in His Holy endeavors if/when we’re willing to stop playing “religion” and start kneeling at His holy feet and seeking HIM, not simply seeking information about Him or seeking with all that is within us to get Him to do what we want Him to do for us.
The passion of my heart in this season of my life is to have intimacy and oneness with my Savior. Some days that’s easier than others, but overall He’s drawing me, teaching me, revealing Himself to me, allowing me to catch glimpses of His heart and how His sharing those things with me needs to be translated into action on my part.
As the Lord is giving us a greater measure of “a full understanding and expression of (His love),” let us reveal that through our “patient endurance that comes from Christ.” Patience not only as we await His return, whether for us or for everyone, but patience in our interactions with others throughout our days.
Tolerance for other’s opinions that are so different than ours, patience with those who, like us, are still in progress. None of us has “arrived” and won’t until the Lord comes. Ideally, the closer we get to the Lord, the better understanding we have of who He is and of His limitless love for us, the greater measure of patience we will illustrate in our love, forgiveness, and forbearance of others.
Waiting is never the issue. We ARE waiting, like it or not. It’s what we do IN THAT waiting that can make all the difference.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 