1 Thessalonians 5:14 NASB95
We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, continually be patient with everyone.
This “way” of life that Jesus lives is a remarkable contrast to the fallen life of the flesh. It is so gloriously liberating. It is not a way of life that we try to live for Jesus, but it is the way of life that Jesus lives. There’s a huge difference. Let me ask you a question. How many times do you get impatient? Maybe a better question would be, how many times do you get impatient daily? It seems like such a normal reaction to life in this fallen world where people and circumstances don’t always cooperate with how we want things to go. Yet this verse in 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us to be continually patient with EVERYONE. Wow! That seems like an impossible ask. Well, it isn’t actually a request for the grammar, in that verse makes it clear that it is a command. We know therefore if it’s a command, then it is actually a promise, for everything Jesus requires of us is a promise that He is prepared to perform through us if we will simply surrender in childlike faith one step at a time to His way of life. The way of life that Jesus lives never involves impatience. Let me restate that. Jesus never gets impatient, and if He is our life, then His invitation to us is to surrender to Him and to live an impatient-free life. Have you ever noticed that being impatient never feels very good? Sin never does, but living a life from Him (not for Him) being continually patient with everyone, not only is supernatural, but it feels supernatural, and that is a lot of fun. If you are in (that is, committed to experience) for this way of life that Jesus lives, then you have to be “all in.” Don’t desire freedom in just certain areas of your life. Embrace the life-changing vision of experiencing the freedom of Christ in every area of life, including laying down the right (and all the yucky feelings that come with it) to live a life of impatience. I promise you if you do, then your righteousness (actually His) will shine forth like the noonday sun, and “everyone” around will celebrate the warmth of it.