patience

We had a great sermon this morning on patience. Scott and I expected to hear how WE could improve and become more patient, etc... but the focus was appropriately on HIM and how He is so patient with rebellious sinners like us. How His patience flows out of His goodness. Why is God patient with us? Because He desires that all come to repentance. His goodness towards us leads us to repentance. His patience is to give opportunity for Adam's fallen race to repent. God does not delight in punishment. He delights in mercy. He brings judgement by degrees. Even when He judges, if we repent, He brings us back and embraces us. How gracious He is, slow to anger and GREAT in mercy!
He is not patient with us in the same way that we are patient with others. We are patient with people because we need them. He certainly does not need us, so His patience does not flow out of that. We are patient because we are powerless to do anything, i.e., when we are ill or with a person in authority over us. He is certainly not powerless! The display of power in His ongoing restraint of wrath in present day world is amazing! His patience, instead of coming from weakness, shows great power. That He restrains His wrath, that He has restrained His wrath on this earth for years, shows greatness. We can restrain ourselves for a day or two when faced with difficult or annoying people, but He shows His great power by restraining and showing long suffering for generations. We are patient because we think we share some of the blame for other's behavior. Especially as parents, we are patient with our children's behavior because we feel we are to blame ,at least in part, for their behavior. God has certainly not done anything that would bring Him blame. He is not to blame for our behavior, for our constant provoking of Him by our sin.
He ended the sermon with this: There was only one person who ever lived that did not need patience from God - His precious Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. He never did anything that He needed patience from God YET all the wrath that our provocation of God deserved was poured out on Him, that spotless Lamb. God delights in patience towards us because of Christ, because He took the wrath that we deserved..His great patience with us,because of Christ, is NOT motivation for ongoing rebellion, of us being our own god, of us living on in self-centered lives. This great, merciful, kind, gracious, patience should cause our hearts to melt, and should motivate us to turn wholly to Him- away from ourselves into His loving embrace.