Kingdom Lifestyle; Patience
By Kayode Emmanuel
Devotional Reading: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:1-2 NIV
Looking into the book of Ephesians, it’s obvious that its first recipients are believers and thus chapters 4-6 talks about believers conducts i.e. they are practical issues which has to do with much of what God already put in them the capacity to carry out just by his spirit and nature in them. All of that by extension goes for us the believers now. One of such conducts is to be patient with one another.
Imagine a family where one or two of the members live in a not so good manner. Inasmuch as that might not be pleasing to them, I’m certain they will not be consider an outcast. The bond of love that exists being a family member cannot be broken. The bond of love gives room for them to bear one another with the hope of a change with time.
King James Version calls being patient as long-suffering and it does not in any way suggest suffering for a long time but never permitting a trial or provocation to get to the end of your patience. You are to bear with each other’s infirmities, ignorance or excesses as the case may be in the spirit of oneness as we all grow into maturity.
Just as you haven’t been disowned by your parent or siblings for having a different opinion to theirs, they have given you a long rope to pull, hoping someday you will see things in their perspective and also vice versa if you are the one waiting for them to change. Then you have no justification for allowing difference in opinion to pull you apart, for we are one body of Christ.
God is saying to you today, “I urge you, live a life worthy of the calling you have received; be patient, bear with one another in love.” Always share your view or understanding of the scripture so that others might be built up and not as a show of knowledge which could bring division.
Prayer and Confession
It is no longer I that lives but Christ lives in me. Hence, I walk worthy of the Lord, for he is my perfect example in all that I do. Hallelujah
Further Reading: Phil. 1:1-12, Col. 1:10, Gal. 5:22
