The Lord's Patience

I'm not sure who you are reading this, but I'll speak a truth about your life: the Lord has been patient with you.

We are all sinners. We stumble, we fall, we outright turn our backs on Him. And hopefully—eventually—we come back. When we do, the Lord is always there patiently waiting. Not to accuse or condemn, but to forgive.

It makes me think that, with how patient the Lord has been with me, maybe I can be a little more patient with the people around me.

This is exactly the message of the unforgiving servant. The man who receives incredible mercy from his master—his massive debt completely wiped clean—but then refuses to show even a fraction of that same mercy to someone who owes him pocket change.

We read that parable and think, "What an idiot. How could he be so heartless?"

But here's the uncomfortable truth: we do the same thing. God forgives our betrayals, our selfishness, our years of lukewarm faith, our deliberate choices to ignore His voice. Then someone cuts us off in traffic, or disagrees with us, or disappoints us, and we withhold forgiveness like it's a limited resource.

Let's not fall into the same trap. You're not perfect. Neither am I.

If God can be patient with our mess, maybe we can extend some of that same patience to everyone else's.