Testing Times
Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other;
just as the LORD has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Colossians 3: 13
It seemed that Aristotle's virtues were strong, manly things designed to equip those whose life was lived in public service on the battlefield or running affairs of state. Did the Christian virtues sound a bit...well, pathetic next to them? The virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience don't sound quite so exciting. But in the very next verse, here in verse 13, we are reminded that these virtues are in fact just as difficult to aspire to, and if mastered may give us a more real strength. The reason they are so difficult is other people. It would be easy to be kind to kittens, patient while waiting for the kettle to boil and humble when reading biographies of Mother Theresa. It is far more difficult to show humility, patience and kindness to those who share our bathroom and leave towels on the floor, or finish up the last of the milk, or drive in a selfish way on the very day we are running late, or insist that it was their idea in a board meeting. Real people make real mistakes- and sometimes it's us who make the mistakes and humility might start with confessing that. Paul knew that his readers were not living in a community of saints, so he tells us to bear with one another- put into practice the patience we have been aspiring to, let our first thoughts be ones of kindness not selfishness, learn to count to 10 and use those ten seconds to remember just how much we have had to ask God for forgiveness for our shortcomings.
It's remarkable too that if we are serious about learning patience, kindness, humility and the rest, God will give us lots of opportunities to practice! I am a teacher, and today I gave one of my classes a mock exam. I deliberately made the conditions as unpleasant as possible- they sat on their own, worked in silence, had to put up with the noise of other students out in the corridor chatting and laughing and at one stage, a demonstration of Bach's music from the classroom next door. I knew that if they were able to test their skills in difficult circumstances, they would develop the strategies and resilience that would enable them to succeed. It would do them no favours if they were never tested, if I whispered the answers to them or chose only easy questions.
If today you find yourself surrounded by trying situations, by people making impossible demands and by things going wrong, remember that these are precisely the training grounds in which to develop patience, kindness, compassion, humility and meekness. And remember what Paul says in Colossians 3 verse 15:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.....and be thankful
just as the LORD has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Colossians 3: 13
It seemed that Aristotle's virtues were strong, manly things designed to equip those whose life was lived in public service on the battlefield or running affairs of state. Did the Christian virtues sound a bit...well, pathetic next to them? The virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience don't sound quite so exciting. But in the very next verse, here in verse 13, we are reminded that these virtues are in fact just as difficult to aspire to, and if mastered may give us a more real strength. The reason they are so difficult is other people. It would be easy to be kind to kittens, patient while waiting for the kettle to boil and humble when reading biographies of Mother Theresa. It is far more difficult to show humility, patience and kindness to those who share our bathroom and leave towels on the floor, or finish up the last of the milk, or drive in a selfish way on the very day we are running late, or insist that it was their idea in a board meeting. Real people make real mistakes- and sometimes it's us who make the mistakes and humility might start with confessing that. Paul knew that his readers were not living in a community of saints, so he tells us to bear with one another- put into practice the patience we have been aspiring to, let our first thoughts be ones of kindness not selfishness, learn to count to 10 and use those ten seconds to remember just how much we have had to ask God for forgiveness for our shortcomings.
It's remarkable too that if we are serious about learning patience, kindness, humility and the rest, God will give us lots of opportunities to practice! I am a teacher, and today I gave one of my classes a mock exam. I deliberately made the conditions as unpleasant as possible- they sat on their own, worked in silence, had to put up with the noise of other students out in the corridor chatting and laughing and at one stage, a demonstration of Bach's music from the classroom next door. I knew that if they were able to test their skills in difficult circumstances, they would develop the strategies and resilience that would enable them to succeed. It would do them no favours if they were never tested, if I whispered the answers to them or chose only easy questions.
If today you find yourself surrounded by trying situations, by people making impossible demands and by things going wrong, remember that these are precisely the training grounds in which to develop patience, kindness, compassion, humility and meekness. And remember what Paul says in Colossians 3 verse 15:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.....and be thankful
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