The Patience of God

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“PATIENCE and I have traveled hand in hand

So many days that I have grown to trace

The lines of sad, sweet beauty in her face,

And all its veiled depths to understand.

Not beautiful is she to eyes profane;

Silent and unrevealed her holy charms;

But, like a mother’s, her serene, strong arms

Uphold my footsteps on the path of pain.

I long to cry, – her soft voice whispers, ‘Nay!’

I seek to fly, but she restrains my feet;

In wisdom stern, yet in compassion sweet,

She guides my helpless wanderings, day by day.

O my Beloved, life’s golden visions fade,

And one by one life’s phantom joys depart;

They leave a sudden darkness in the heart,

And patience fills their empty place instead.”

~Edith Wharton (1862-1937), first woman to win Pulitzer Prize

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

~Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate

“What I long for is a love big enough to be disturbed by what people are doing, and strong enough and patient enough to carry them to the place where Christ wants them to be!”

~C. John Miller (1928-1996), Pastor and Missionary

SERMON PASSAGE

2 Peter 3:8-15 (ESV)

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him…