It’s easy to say that we should be patient because God has been patient with us.
But we may argue that we have not been as bad as those around us who have offended and harmed us.
We can also say that we are quite ignorant of how God has truly been patient with us, and how we have offended Him.
But aren’t others guilty of the heavier offense? Where is justice then?
How do we reconcile all these?
It is like Job saying, “I am a righteous man, why do I suffer like this?”
Well, there is none who is more righteous than Jesus, and there is also none who suffered like He did!
We, as followers of Jesus will also suffer like He did.
We can’t find the justice we want here on earth.
But then we are told that we should rejoice! Why?! Not because we can see justice being fulfilled in this world, and not because we are happy with the evil being done. But because we have been deemed worthy to suffer for Jesus and like Jesus, and have a great reward in heaven!
Love is not happy with evil.
Love is not happy with injustice.
But love hopes. Love continues to believe. Love endures. And in the end, love will succeed.
It is for this mercy that we are thankful for.
And it is this mercy that we can give away.
We give the same patience that God has given to the world – of putting up with people to their very last breath, until the very last moment they can be saved.
And since we are not God, we don’t know everything in a person’s life. We don’t know if they will change or when they will change. We don’t know how much they may be punished for their sins. We just trust that God is just and that He knows everything. So we put vengeance upon His hands.
To be patient is to trust God and to love Him.
To be patient is to allow God to save us and to guard our hearts from evil.
To be patient is to not lose hope and to fix our eyes upon our true joy, upon eternity.
To be patient is to understand God’s love for us.
One of the most difficult things in dealing with patience is the thought that God is not loving us anymore, that He has forsaken us, and that He has favored those who made us suffer.
We just have to believe that this is not true.
God is patient and merciful even with the damned and the fallen angels. God’s love is the same love Jesus carried upon the cross just to save us.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"