GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2, NIV)

When we see in another the hurt beneath the anger, or the reason behind the behavior, we’re more likely to make allowance for each other’s faults (see Ephesians 4:2, NLT).

Developing this patience is part of the lesson plan at the school of Christ, which is why God created each of us with different shapes, interests, and personalities. We each have different backgrounds, and we’re each at a different place in our journey with Jesus.

Practicing at patience teaches us to keep looking on the things above, allowing us to see how God works in the most difficult of circumstances, or when facing the most difficult of people. In patience we learn diversity is a strength and not a weakness.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with – even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.” (Romans 14:1, MSG)

What does this mean?

• Practice at being patient – Most people can muster patience when it’s convenient; the real test comes when the day is slipping away or when you’re faced with someone making the same mistake for the third time in a week.
• Patience often comes at significant cost – It requires you set aside your agenda and yield your rights in order to welcome other with open arms.
• Ask yourself these questions:
  • How can I better understand the people who bring out my impatience?
  • What does my impatience say about my priorities?
  • In what ways do people have to be patient with me?
  • Do I give the same amount of grace to others as I expect them to give me?

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)

For the sake of discussion, let’s assume there’s a long, thin line threaded across reality. This line divides what we can see from what we cannot see; it divides the temporary from the eternal.

In essence, Paul, valedictorian in his class at the school of Christ, says we should think upon the things above the line and not on the things below the line.

With our minds set above this line, we live as if there is more to reality than the things we see with our eyes; we live as if there are things of eternal significance; we live with an eye toward the things of a Jesus-life.

When our focus moves below this line, we begin living as if the only things that are real and true are those things we can see; we live as if the things of life have no eternal significance; we live with an eye on many things that are counter to the Jesus-life within us.

Shoved by our circumstances, we tend to “shuffle along, eyes to the ground.” (Colossians 3:2, MSG) To echo Eugene Peterson (Romans 12:2, MSG), we fit into our culture without even thinking, when our thinking should be set on the things above.

This doesn’t mean we deny what we see or pretend we’re always in a ‘Don’t worry; Be happy’ world; nevertheless, but we’re to intentionally set our minds on the things above, allowing the Holy Spirit to supply us with the mind of Christ.

What does this mean?

• Put life in perspective – Ask God, “Am I seeing this situation through your eyes, or my own?” Eugene Peterson paraphrases Colossians 3:2 (MSG) this way: “Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”
• When you become discouraged – Realize that what you see is not all of reality, and what you feel is not an indication of the truth. Ask God to help you see your situation in light of eternity; ask him to help you look past your emotions into the eyes of Truth.

If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.