This Week's Light Service Sermon

Light Service Sermons for the Month
Putting the Life Back Into Life
Putting the Patience Back Into Life
DATE: November 15, 1998
TEXT: Proverbs 14:29

Lenny was in a great mood. It was Friday night. The long workweek was over. Lenny dreamed of using the entire weekend doing the things that HE wanted to do. As he was driving home he thought that maybe he'd spend some time working on his '83' Mazda RX7. Certainly he'd spend some time with his wife and his kids and hopefully there would be some nice surprises along the way, as well. It was going to be a great weekend.

As Lenny walked into the house he immediately noticed that the family dog had ripped the drapes on the front window down. Apparently, the dog was trying to protect the family from the mail carrier and ripped the curtains down. As Lenny surveyed the damage, he could see that it would take at least half a day to repair everything. Well, he didn't want to waste Saturday so he decided to get started Friday night. He went out to the garage and found that his tools instead of being in the toolbox were all over the floor. His little boy had gotten into them once again. He started picking up the tools. Apparently his wife heard him and stuck her head in the garage. When she saw him holding tools, with exasperation in her voice, said, "Oh Len, you're not going to work on that stupid car again all weekend, are you?" That was it, Lenny blew. He started throwing his tools into his toolbox. He yelled at the kids. He yelled at his wife. The kids took cover in their bedrooms. His wife started to cry. Dinner was ruined. The weekend was a bust. Lenny was ashamed and embarrassed. Lenny's patience had run thin and it boiled over into anger.
Now, we may or may not respond the way that Lenny did. But all of us know exactly the way that Lenny was feeling at that point because we've been there. Whether we're in a hurry only to be stuck behind somebody who has no idea how to drive a car, or whether at a cash register for 45 minutes while the cashier tries to credit our account; whether we've been at work surrounded by employees who are fighting all day long or at home surrounded by children who are fighting all day long, all of us know what it is like to have our patience worn down to the point that we respond in inappropriate ways.
We all know, from experience that when we lose our patience we often react with anger. And, if we're not careful, this lack of patience can become chronic and pretty soon we develop a complaining attitude and even become depressed. And again, if we're not careful, that lack of patience can eventually rob us of the joy and peace that life has for us.
The problem is that we live in a hectic, fast-paced world. The world is always bombarding us with stresses and frustrations. It's hard to remain patient every day. Like Lenny, when we lose our patience we often feel sick on the inside. We're so disappointed in ourselves and we wonder how we can put some control back into our lives.
Well, the bad news is that the stresses of life aren't going to get any less. They are going to just keep hitting us. But the good news, according to the Bible, is that it is possible to face the stresses and frustrations of life with peace and calm.
Today we're going to talk about how the Bible shares with us the good news that we can begin to put the patience back into life. We're going to take a few moments first to talk about some of the things in life that rob us of our patience and then look at four biblical principles that can help us life with peace and calm.
But before we talk about it, let's pray together….
Hey God. Sometimes, once in a while, now and then, heck almost everyday, I would like you to stop the world so I can get off for awhile. As the old prayer goes, help to face the stresses I can, forget the stresses I can't and have the wisdom to know the difference. AMEN
Back in the summer of my junior year, our family took a vacation out west. Dad, Mom, my brother Steve and I were intending to go all the way to Seattle. We were going to camp using a popup canvas trailer. Now my father was usually a very patient man. However, when he left on vacation it would usually take him about two days before he finally would settle down and relax. It seemed to take him that long to work out of his system the stresses and pressures of the job he was leaving behind before he could finally settle in and enjoy. Since this was to be driving vacation, the first two days was literally a marathon. I became a "hold your bladder as long as possible" kind of torture those first couple of days. We drove up through the Wisconsin Dells, across to Prairie De Chien before we even knew what hit us.
By the time we hit the badlands of South Dakota everyone's patience was wearing pretty thin. By then no one was talking in the car. Reading had become a virtue. Car license bingo had come and gone. We stopped finally at an overlook to look down on the rugged terrain. I can still remember the four of us walking in four divergent directions from the car. We wanted and needed space from each other.
A gust of wind blew my baseball cap off. It sailed down into a small ravine. I ran after it. My Mother went ballistic. She started screaming and hollering like a banshee. Other tourists began looking at her, at me, at us. I retrieved the hat and ran back to find out what I had done. All she did was hold me. From her vantage point, I had disappeared over the hill chasing my hat. With the almost surreal backdrop of the badlands behind me, she thought I had fallen off the end of the world. Her frustration of being in the car for two solid days, her frustration at my brother and I fighting in the back seat, her frustration at my dad's tension, finally bubbled over when I disappeared from sight into the ravine. All of those frustrations had piled up, worn her out, and she blew.
Every day we face frustrations. Sometimes just a few and sometimes a bunch of them. If we're not careful, those little frustrations just keep banging us on the head and it wears us out to the point we lose our tempers.
Not only do frustrations wear out our patience but stress does as well.
Later on that trip we stopped at Mount Rushmore. After having lunch at the restaurant there we set out to find a camp ground in the area. Now you need to know about a little idiosyncrasy of my mother. Whenever we would stop for a night on vacations, mom would not immediately take the first motel that we would see. She would demand an inspection of the room we had been offered before agreeing to stay. What's more she would visit at least three motels with the same demand before making up her mind. Now that was OK. We had gotten used to that. However, a camping trip is a different story.
She not only would visit different camping grounds before she settled in on one she liked, she would do the same with campsites. Dad would maneuver the Apache Camper into a position only to discover mother had found one elsewhere she liked better. On this one day I remember she finally found the one she liked best. After much backing up and moving forward of the car to get it in just the right position, Dad started to unpack and while mom went to find the "you know what.". In less than five minutes she came back and said, "I found a better one." Dad never said a word. He just put that Pontiac station wagon into gear, floored the engine and with camper wheels bouncing three feet into the air, tore into that campsite with a vengeance. He slammed out of the car and this time it was Dad who went for a walk. We didn't see him for an hour.
Every day we face some kind of pressure--whether it's at work or at home or in relationships or on vacation. And again, if we're not careful that stress can pile up and we blow.
The third thing that can rob us of patience is disappointment--setbacks--when things don't go the way that we planned.
That night we set up camp and I remember having a particularly memorable meal with a lot of extras on the side. We toured the campground and found the amenities, hiking trails, horseback riding, a stocked fishing pond, and even a swimming pool. We stayed an extra night just enjoying the camp, planning to head on toward the Rockies the next day.
Early the next morning, we packed up the camper, hitched it to the car and started for the main gate of the campground. Dad put the car into gear, released the brake and put his foot on the accelerator. Nothing. The engine was running but we weren't going anywhere. Two hours later a mechanic from the nearby National Park gas station gave us the bad news--a broken rear axle. Now my brother remembers what happened next differently from me. He says that Dad remained calm while Mom went psycho. I remember it the other way around. What we both remember is that we were there in that campground for five days while our car was towed into Rapid City, a rear axle shipped in from Chicago and the car fixed. By the time we left we were taking newcomers to the campground on tours of the facilities. We never made it to Seattle.
All of us have been there. We have these beautifully laid out plans only to have something interrupt them. We have dreams that don't work out the way that we had hoped. And when we're hit with too much of that stuff it just wears us out. The frustrations, the set backs of life, the stresses of life are kind of like "Chinese Water Torture." They just keep pinging away at us and wear us out. And again, if we're not careful, that lack of patience can become chronic and it can ruin our lives.
The good news that the Bible shares with us is that we can put at least some of the patience back into life. The Bible tells us that one of God's dreams is to instill in us the virtue of patience--and that's because God knows that patience can lead us to a life of contentment, joy and peace.
Now patience, according to the Bible, means to endure the tough times of life. Patience means, standing tall in the midst of the stress, keeping cool while others are cursing. It means we hold out for as long as possible before we give in to anger. As one person put it, patience keeps us standing on our feet when we are bombarded by the winds of life.
With that in mind, I'd like to quickly share with you four Biblical principles that can help put the patience back into life. Four principles than can help you stand when life is bombarding you.
The first key for putting the patience back into life is to get to know personally the God of patience--Jesus Christ. Jesus demonstrates over and over again just how patient he really is. No matter how many times we blow it, Jesus forgives us. No matter how often we let him down and disappoint him, he keeps on loving us. He lets us know that there is absolutely nothing we can do that would ever cause him to lose patience with us. In fact, the Bible tells us Jesus keeps putting off his second coming so that as many people as possible can know Him as friend. As we get to know Jesus as our friend, he very gently and tenderly molds and shapes us into His image. One of the things he tries to instill in us is patience.
Now, none of us will ever be perfect when it comes to patience, but the longer we know Jesus--the more we walk with him--the more we experience patience in our lives, the better able we're going to respond to life with patience. So patience begins by allowing the patience of Jesus Christ to capture our hearts and transform us.
The second key for putting the patience back into life is to pray. The Bible says instead of worrying about things, instead of losing our temper, instead of getting all caught up in what's happening around us, we should pray. And as we do, God's peace will fill us. So when you're feeling a bit stressed, when you feel like you're on the edge, take a moment, step back and just say, "God, I can't do this." And God promises he'll respond by filling you with his peace.
The third key for putting the patience back into life is to remember that our circumstances don't determine our moods, but we determine how we will respond to our circumstances. God has given us the incredible ability to interpret the events around us--mentally and emotionally. And depending on how we interpret our circumstances, we're either going to respond with patience or a lack of it.
There's a story about a salesman who was out on a dark country road when his car blew a tire. He pulled the car off to the side of the road and began to rummage around in the trunk. That's when he discovered that the lug wrench was missing. He seemed to remember that there was a farmhouse about a mile back and he thought maybe the farmer could help him and lend him a lug wrench. He got out of the car and began to walk. It started to rain. It began pouring! Soon he was drenched. And as he made his way to the house he started having a conversation with himself. He said, "Well I suppose that by now, because it's so late, the farmer's probably in bed where it's nice and warm. What if he doesn't hear me knock? What if he does hear me knock and he ignores me? Or what if he actually comes to the door, opens it up and looks at me and says, 'Hey, I was sleeping! What right do you have to come and wake me up in the middle of the night?'"
As he walked he thought, "Here I am. I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm lost. What right does he have to not help me?" Once at the farmhouse the salesman banged on the door. A window opened up and someone said, "Who is it?" The salesman said, "You know exactly who it is. It's me. And you can keep your blasted lug wrench. I wouldn't borrow it from a guy like you if you were the last person on earth." And he stormed away.
We have the incredible ability to interpret the events around us the way we want. If we choose to interpret our stresses and frustrations as threats, we're going to respond with a lack of patience. We're going to blow up. But when we choose to see all of life through God's eyes--to realize that our lives are in God's hands and he's going to take care of us and he will make it all right--we're better able to respond with patience.
Finally, the fourth key for putting the patience back into life is to enjoy the gift of a second chance. Now I have admit to you that I'm not always perfect when it comes to patience. And I suspect all of us are in the same boat. Thankfully, Jesus promises us that no matter how often we blow it he will always forgive us--no questions asked. And not only will he forgive us, and give us a second chance, but he's going to use those failures in our lives to make us stronger--to help us develop more patience later on. Jesus Christ is the God of the second chance.
I want to encourage you to discover the joy and the peace and the contentment that patience can give. We do live in a world filled with frustrations and stresses and Jesus Christ wants to make us patient people and to begin that process by touching our lives with his patience. I encourage you to receive that gift today.
AMEN