Devotion for today: is our love for God a patient love?

This week we will look at the topic of love from a few different angles.

Scripture for meditation: 1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is patient.

 Christ tells us: Matthew 18:25-26

“As he had no way of paying it, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that the official prostrated himself in homage and said, ‘My lord, be patient with me and I will pay you back in full.’”

 Richard Ostella tells us: What then does it mean to be patient toward God? It means to wait for God to keep His promises in the way, time, and place that He as Sovereign Lord chooses. That is, it means to wait calmly in obedience without complaining. Thus to be patient is to wait for God, to wait for God to keep covenant, to wait calmly in obedience without complaining about what He sees fit to do…So our question becomes, what is this patience related to waiting, what way of waiting is being described? No doubt some of what is involved is suggested by the gap between promise and fulfillment. What's going on? Why is there a gap? Why doesn't God give what He promises immediately? The time between is school time. It is a time for learning obedience through testing by trials and by suffering….The extreme height of this duty is not a discouragement. It is helpful to have clear goals and to know that this goal and that goal are required of me by the Lord. That He requires it is all the assurance I need to know that He will be my helper and my rock of strength. Very specifically then, it is your duty to cultivate the Christian virtue of patience toward God. We need to have a sense of duty and diligence. It is like pondering a road map very carefully so we can travel in the right direction….Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith cultivates patience. To be patient we must fix our gaze on Him not on the stormy waters surrounding us….No doubt we all have things that we desire deeply and that we thought the Lord would have given to us by now in our lives…. So we pray, work, long, wait, and wait still longer. He is righteous and He is able. He will keep His promises. (www.bible.org)

 Prayer: Teach me to love you

O Wound of Mercy, Heart of Jesus, hide me in Your depths as a drop of your own Blood and do not let me out forever! Lock me in Your depths, and do You Yourself teach me to love You! Eternal Love, do You Yourself form my soul that it be made capable of returning Your love. (Diary, 1631) (Mercy Minutes, Marian Press, 2008)

 My thoughts: Being patient with God isn’t easy. We tend to want what we want, when we want it, which is usually right now! It is hard to remember that only one thing is important to God, and that is the salvation of our souls. God wants us in heaven with Him when we die. If the crosses we bear patiently are the means to that end, then we should embrace them and actually thank God for them. Being patient with God means giving Him the time to do His work in us, without complaining or turning our backs on Him in anger and impatience. The man in the parable asked the master to be patient with him. That was a request for time. Let us be patient with God, and give Him all the time He needs to make us saints. The reward for this patience is an eternity of happiness in heaven.

 Our prayer to God: Today let us think of all the people in our own lives with whom we must be patient. Let us turn them over to God, and then ask Him to bless us with wisdom and understanding. Then, maybe we can see where God is “trying our patience” in unanswered prayer. Is there an action God is calling us to perform that maybe isn’t in our personal plan for life? Has He already answered our prayer, and maybe we refuse to accept the answer? Are we really praying to God, and not just wishing and hoping? And finally, are we too busy to sit and listen to God, to be patient with Him, as we ask Him to be patient with us? This is a good day to reflect on the line of our meditation: Love is Patient (with God).