Living Water Church

Love is Patient

1 Corinthians 13:4

Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.

The Greek word used here for patience is a descriptive one. It figuratively means “taking a long time to boil.” Think about a pot of boiling water. What factors determine the speed at which it boils? The size of the stove? No. The pot? The utensil may have an influence, but the primary factor is the intensity of the flame. Water boils quickly when the flame is high. It boils slowly when the flame is low. Patience “keeps the burner down.”

Helpful clarification, don’t you think? Patience isn’t naive. It doesn’t ignore misbehavior. It just keeps the flame low. It waits. It listens. It’s slow to boil. This is how God treats us. And, according to Jesus, this is how we should treat others.

By Max Lucado, “A Love Worth Giving”

By Pastor Ken Urban:

I love many things like cereal for breakfast, especially in a bright sunlit room on a cold winter morning.  I love my best friend…my wife.  I love to hang out with her, talk to each other, eat dinner together, just all around be together.  Exercising is one of my favorite things to do, particularly running and swimming and going to recreation centers.  I love skiing with my Dad, staring at the beauty of the mountains, talking with my brother.  I love laughing with my boys, making them happy, seeing them grow closer to the Lord.  I love worshipping Jesus, worshipping with the guitar, hearing the voice of God, talking to someone about the gospel.  I love the unconditional love of my God, being surrounded by His presence.

Everything you love makes life worthwhile.  Spend a few minutes writing down the things that you love.  God wants us to learn a life of love.

Ephesians 5:1-2  (The Message) “Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  Love like that.”

“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.  With a long life I will satisfy him, and let him behold My salvation.”  Psalm 91

As I wrote about in my last blog, my 15 year old son has recently suffered an enormous amount of physical pain.  (He broke his leg and had oral surgery the same week.)   Tonight he and his dad are out to dinner (at Sweet Tomatoes) celebrating Ben’s return to full-fledged eating.  After dental surgery, it has been nearly a month since Ben has eaten anything he wanted.  He is enormously tired of ice cream, jello, soup, yogurt, and mashed potatoes.  He actually wanted salad – go figure.

Recently I posed the question – Does anything hurt worse than seeing your child suffer?  I have watched Ben suffer these last 4 weeks.  I wanted to step in and rescue him.  I wanted to fix it for him, to walk beside him and somehow help him endure it.  As I have watched him hobble around our home, as I observed him looking longingly at the open refrigerator (knowing that he couldn’t eat much of anything in there), it broke my heart. Wouldn’t you agree that it tears at your heart to watch your child suffer?

My relationship with my son made me think about God’s relationship with His Son.  It must have broken the Father’s heart to see His Son Jesus suffer.  In Psalm 91, God promises to answer us when we call out to Him; He says He is with us in times of trouble.  He will rescue us. God is a rescuer.  And yet…

And yet?  As I was considering Jesus dying on the cross, I realized that God didn’t rescue Jesus.  On the cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  Jesus felt forsaken, abandoned, and alone.  Jesus was crying out to His Father … and yet no rescue came.

And as I have watched my 15 year old son suffer, it gives me a small taste, just a little glimpse, of the agony the Father must have felt in seeing His own Son suffer. I can picture God watching from Heaven, watching as Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and beaten.   Looking on as His body was broken.  He saw Jesus’ blood spew forth; He heard His Son’s cries.  He heard him moan, suffering in complete anguish and torment.

Does anything hurt worse than seeing your child suffer?  God could have stepped in and rescued Jesus.  He could have prevented the suffering.  He could have stopped the abuse.  And yet He chose not to.  Why?  Because the Father couldn’t have saved Jesus … and still saved us.  If the Father rescued Jesus, Jesus couldn’t have rescued us.

For a moment try to imagine Him who has all power, choose to control that power, so as to allow such a thing as the cross to happen to His Child. What does it tell me?  He must so love us. “For God so loved the world that He sent His Son…”  God sent Jesus to earth because He loves us.  He watched Jesus suffer and die, because He loves us.

Jesus did it for us.  The Father allowed it for us.  For without Jesus’ sacrifice, we would not behold His salvation.  Oh how He must love us.

Wow, it has been a crazy couple of weeks.  I was thinking that once my boys returned to school after winter break that my life would slow down.  I daydreamed of time alone, peaceful and relaxing.  In the back of my mind, however, I knew that Ben, my 15 year old, was having dental surgery just a week after the winter break ended.  So I was mentally preparing myself for that – knowing that I would need to help him walk through the pain and suffering involved with oral surgery.

He was having this surgery because his two eye teeth went horizontal instead of coming in vertically.  The plan was for the surgeon to go in and open up the area where the teeth were, glue a wire to them, so that the orthodontist could pull them into the correct position (over the course of the next year).  We had put the surgery off for awhile because we knew the procedure, and the recovery, would be difficult.  Ben had been dreading it for some time.

Then four days before surgery, Ben rolled his ankle during his high school basketball practice, while shooting a lay-up.  When I picked him up at school that night he was in enormous pain.  At our pediatrician’s office the next day, we found out that he had broken his ankle, the growth plate in his leg had separated, and that a piece of bone had actually chipped off of his ankle.  So here in the midst of preparing for surgery, we now faced a whole new crisis.  Against the advice of the doctors, we went ahead with Ben’s surgery as planned.   This was Ben’s desire.

Immediately after the surgery, the nurse informed us that one of the teeth was very high up in the roof of Ben’s mouth and he would be in quite a bit of pain for several days.  That was an understatement.

Does anything hurt worse than seeing your child suffer?   Without going into a lot details (which would embarrass my son), he was bleeding out his nose, bleeding in his mouth, vomiting, and moaning.  His ankle was still swollen, bruised, and he couldn’t put any weight on it.  He was miserable.  He had to give up his two favorite things:  basketball and eating.

Sometimes Christians go through “Job-like” experiences.  As I watched Ben suffer over the course of the next two weeks, I realized (and accepted) the fact that God let Ben break his leg four days before surgery.  God could have prevented it and He chose not to.  I embraced the fact that God had things to teach Ben, and me, through this crisis in our family.

In all honesty, at this point, I don’t have any idea what I’m supposed to learn, except for one simple truth:  I can trust Him.  In the good times, in the bad times, I can trust Him.  I am choosing to rest securely in my God, knowing that He is involved in every detail of our lives.   He loves us, He watches over us, and He protects us.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust.’”  Psalm 91

I want God’s blessing.  I want to walk under the protective covering of the Almighty God.  I want the favor of the Lord resonating through my life.  And the amazing truth is that God wants to bless me, protect me, and shower me with His favor.  But as is so often the case, there is God’s part and my part.  God will do His part.  He is faithful to His word, faithful to His promises.  The question lies more in whether or not I will do my part.

Deut 5:29 is a promise I pray most everyday for my family.  “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” My desire is to have a proper respect, or fear, for God.  Additionally, this scripture declares that I must obey all His commandments.  God does not leave any room for me to pick and choose which ones I’ll obey, which ones are more appealing or require the least sacrifice.  To walk in the blessing of God, we must obey all.

And as we go through hard times, we must remember that God’s blessing doesn’t mean that He is trying to fulfill our every desire.  He’s not seeking to give us immediate gratification.  Rather, “He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.” Deut. 8:16.  In hard times, keep trusting, keep obeying, because God has a purpose and plan—to do good for you in the end.

I’m not one to make New Year’s resolutions.  But as I was praying and seeking God for my family and the church in the last few weeks, I wrote down some of my desires in my prayer journal.  These are things I am asking God for in the coming year.  Let me share them with you.

1.      That we, at LWC, would align ourselves such that we would see an increase in God’s manifest presence this year.  We want to see signs, miracles, and wonders, with their end result being that many would surrender their lives to Jesus.

2.      For our inheritance, God would give us the lost.  My prayer is that we would develop and cultivate an evangelical lifestyle.

3.      That we would be encouragers, building each other up.  (1 Thess. 5:11)

4.      We would be doers of the word and not merely hearers only. (James 1:22)

5.      That God would develop within us the heart of David – a heart of worship and repentance.

6.      That we would be prayer warriors.   And like Hezekiah of old, we would see God’s hand move in our world, “because you have prayed.”  (Isaiah 37:21)

7.      Ultimately, my desire for myself, my family, and my church family, is that we would live lives which are pleasing to the Father.

I love the Christmas season.  I love the decorations, the music, the amazing smells that burst from kitchens everywhere.  I love the anticipation of my children as presents begin to pile up under our tree.  But the main reason that I love Christmas is because it is the only time of year that our culture openly acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Just walking through the mall the other day, the loud speakers were blaring, “Joy to the World, the Lord has come.  Let earth receive her King.  Let every heart prepare Him room.”

The Creator of the Universe, the Messiah, God-incarnate, who we call, Jesus, came to earth!  And yet, few made room for Him.  They were too busy, too tired, or too preoccupied with their lives to realize that the God Himself was in their midst.  Or, perhaps they were too skeptical to investigate as to whether the baby born in the stable was just another child or Someone who would change history.

And change history—He did.  At the birth of Jesus, Earth’s history was divided into two—BC and AD.   No other man so impacted our world, ever.  Take time this season, make room in your busy lives, to discover the truth about Jesus.  Don’t just ignore Him, like the Innkeeper in Bethlehem, who made no room in his Inn.  Rather, choose to give Jesus your time and attention.  Discover who Jesus really was and still is!  Let every heart prepare Him room.  Let every heart receive our King.  Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

We all pick favorites.  We have our favorite restaurant, our favorite food, movie, or book.  We have favorite people too, based on our friendships and hobbies.  But favoritism can be taken too far.   When we give preferential treatment to people based on economic, social, or racial criteria, it isn’t just wrong, it’s sinful.  The early church quickly developed a problem in this area.  James confronts it, stating that the church gave extra attention and care to a rich man, while debasing a poor man.

Ken’s sermon last week about personal favoritism was awesome.  He talked about the sin of preferential treatment, really driving home the point that in God’s eyes, showing partiality is a serious offense.  Ken said it gave God a black-eye.  Ken exhorted us to consider areas in our lives where our perceptions dictate our actions.  He told us to take an honest look at how we respond to people.  As a church, or as individuals, are we guilty of the sin of personal favoritism?  If so, we must repent and change our ways.   Lord helps to be like You; help us to love the way You love.   As JJ Heller’s song declares, “I will love you for you, not for what you have done or what you will become.  I will love you for you.”

I was talking with the Lord about my life this week, expressing some concerns for myself and for one of my sons.  I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said one word, “retrain.”  By definition, to train means:  “To coach in or accustom to some mode of behavior; to make or become proficient with specialized instruction and practice.”  When you train a dog, you teach it to respond a certain way by repetitive instruction and positive or negative feedback.  (Please know I am not comparing my son or myself to a dog.)  However, the principle applies.  We need to train ourselves to respond to situations in a God-honoring way and not a sinful way.  This may require some “retraining” in our lives.

In our study of James the last several weeks, we have talked about two major stumbling blocks for believers—anger and un-forgiveness.  In these areas, many of us need “retraining.”  Out of habit, we can respond to situations almost in a rote manner, without thinking.  For example, we can respond out of anger and not even realize what we’re doing.  So, we need to “retrain” ourselves and learn to respond to life’s difficulties in a more Godly manner.  James exhorts us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.  If you’re like me, you might need some “retraining” to obey this command.

It’s Thanksgiving week.  If you’re at all like me, you’ll shop ‘til you drop and eat ‘til you hurt.  I love this week.  The kids are off school, the house smells of pumpkin and spice.  The family gathers together. It’s a great time of year.

But if that is all Thanksgiving means to me, if that’s where my focus remains, I’ve lost the meaning, the very reason for this holiday’s existence.  In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November to be set apart as a time to give thanks.  This was a time when our nation was in crisis.  We were at war, with ourselves!  The Civil War was tearing our nation apart.  And in this dark hour, our president gave this presidential address, consider it:

” The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come … the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations… No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens… to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens… And I recommend to them that …  (we) fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility…” President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863, Washington D.C.