but one who is quick-tempered displays folly." Proverbs 14v29.
There is such a lot packed into that one, short verse. How often do we become easily irritated, short-tempered, impatient, ungracious in our dealings with people? You don't have to answer that! I can't even make the journey to work without becoming the person described in Proverbs 14v29. By the time I arrive at my desk I've already huffed and puffed about various insignificancies and trivia, making unkind assumptions about people I don't even know.
This tells me I lack good sense, display poor judgment and am basically foolish. All because I am a little impatient?! In God's eyes, any impatience is sin, regardless of how negligible we think it is. As Christians, our goal is to become more like Jesus, to draw others to Him by our lives and by our light.
When we lose our cool with our children, our parents, our husbands or wives and anyone else who may cross our daily paths, we are not living according to His will. It's inexcusable. But thankfully it's forgivable if we take it to the Lord and confess it and ask for his help to start afresh, and seek the forgiveness of those we have wronged.
This is a daily battle. It's not a one-time decision we make that says "Today I'll be patient" and then we don't live it out. Would we like others to deal with us the way we speak to them? The answer will be a resounding NO if you are honest.
When we are not patient we miss out on so much. When your child wants to tell you about his day. When your teenager wants to ask you about a troubling friendship. When your spouse wants to offload about a difficult colleague. All these things make demands on our time and often come when we are trying to do 101 other things and we therefore become short and snappy. Surely the people in our lives that we (say we) love, are more important than whether the mirrors get cleaned or the kitchen floor gets washed? And when we don't allow the other person to finish speaking, and we interrupt with our tuppence-worth and opinion on the matter, doesn't that make us look stupid when we have jumped to the wrong conclusion? If only we'd let them finish, we'd have understood what they were saying, been able to respond intelligently, and thus avoided looking like an idiot.
There is no room for hot-headedness and pride in the Christian walk. If we exercise patience in every aspect of our day, rather than retaliation and knee-jerk reaction, we will find that we handle things sensibly, with good judgement and are deemed wise by those around us.
Today I have had to submit my will to His so many times already and the morning is barely over. If I did things my way, it would be ugly and undignified. Reacting as I know He'd want me to, makes a big difference. Don't get me wrong, it's a struggle in my flesh because I am naturally impatient, but God is showing me that only by committing my every action and interaction to Him, can I learn to be who He has redeemed me to be.
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