Daily Devotional for Wednesday 8th May
Jesus – the Master of patience
Have you ever heard of the phrase, patience is a virtue? Or good things come to those who wait? I’ve only just got into gardening and I planted some flowers in a new bed in the garden and thought they would look really nice in a few weeks. When I looked at the back of the seed packet and saw it said 12-14 weeks, I was so upset. I wanted the flowers to bloom as soon as possible so they made the garden look beautiful. I didn’t want to wait around for what was to come.
Jesus is the master of patience. So many times, the disciples got things wrong, Jesus still chose them and knew they would do the right thing eventually. It’s so hard when we see people around us who aren’t growing. Like the flowers in my garden, it’s important not to rush growth. A young oak tree can never be the same size as an 80 year old tree. God’s people grow slowly. Day by day and week by week. I remember training for a half marathon a few years ago and someone gave me the best advice I ever had. They said, “It’s better to do 5 to 10 minutes run every day than to do a long run and not run again for a month”. It’s like brushing your teeth. You don’t brush your teeth for 20 minutes so you don’t have to brush them again for the next 5 days. You would definitely be avoided by the 3rd day. And like plants, you wouldn’t drench it with water and then starve it for a month thinking it had enough water a month ago. Let’s treat our faith in the same way. Not wait for Sunday to quench our thirst, but return to the “river of living water” (John 7:38) so we can grow our faith daily and you’ll be amazed by how strong ours and those we mentor’s faith will be.
Time to reflect…
Have you felt a time in your life when patience has been hard? When waiting for a crop to grow has been tough?
Pause to pray…
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your patience to us. Thank you that you always wait for us when we are ready to respond to you. I pray that you help me to be patient even when things don’t make sense to me at the time. Help us as a church to be patient with each other and seek you first in all that we do. In Jesus name, Amen.
