Probably,
the most important scripture, from this scribe's perspective pertinent to
this web page topic is in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, which is as follows:
May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ.
(NLT)
May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
(NIV)
Need we
mention that the tenth step* spiritual principle is perseverance.
Now let
us offer some information about the meaning of patience with a definition, and
similarity with synonyms.
patience:
The capacity, quality, or fact of being patient.
Well,
that sure didn't yield much, lets see what the word patient has to say
about this topic.
patient:
1. Bearing or enduring pain, difficulty, provocation, or annoyance with calmness.
2. Marked by or exhibiting calm endurance of pain, difficulty, provocation, or annoyance.
3. Tolerant; understanding: an unfailingly patient leader and guide.
4. Persevering; constant: With patient industry, she revived the failing business and made it thrive.
5. Capable of calmly awaiting an outcome or result; not hasty or impulsive.
Now in an
effort to try to tie some words together, to see that they are really the same thing,
let us take a peek at the synonym deal, for patience.
Main Entry: patient
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: enduring
Synonyms: accommodating, calm, composed, easy-going,
enduring, even-tempered, forbearing, forgiving, gentle, imperturbable, indulgent, lenient, long-suffering, meek, mild, mild-tempered, persevering, persistent, philosophic, philosophical, quiet, resigned, self-possessed, serene, stoical, submissive, tolerant, tranquil, uncomplaining, understanding, unruffled, untiring
Will have
to admit that I do not know what the difference between endurance and
enduring is, but seems that one has to do with the present tense and the
other maybe has to do with past tense. But suffice it to say that
the meaning of patience and endurance is the same thing, as is the same
meaning of the words persevering and perseverance. With that thought
in place, let us supplant the change of words, in the beginning scripture
of this web page:
May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the
patience that comes from Christ.
All of
the above is aimed at this single thought. Christ owns patience, and
all of the other similar words, and is his to bestow, on whoever he
chooses to bequeath same. We are just along for the ride. But
it is clear to me, that we are supposed to continue to grow in our
understanding of the Love of God, which is aimed at what some consider to
be Agape Love. To me, that simply means that in working with others,
sometimes the spirit lets us know of what is to be manifested in our
fellow traveler, on this anonymous path of long suffering.
And to
this scribe, it seems that this world does not have any patience at all,
at times. SOME THINK THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN A PAIN
FREE WORLD, AND EVERYTHING HAS TO BE DONE THE WAY THAT THEY WANT IT TO BE
DONE, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
Let us
quote from page sixty in the original anonymous text book:
The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on selfwill can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. Most people try to live by selfpropulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If
his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. In trying to make these arrangements our actor may sometimes be quite virtuous. He may be kind, considerate, patient, generous; even modest and selfsacrificing. On the other hand, he may be mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest. But, as with most humans, he is more likely to have varied traits.
Do any of
you good folks have anyone in your life that has a propensity to display
any of the "playing god" traits?
Has
anyone ever heard the expression "The patience of Job?"
Don't know how many of you have taken the time to read the book of Job,
but it is a real doozie. First, a messenger came in and told Job
that some of his live stock had been chased off, and all but one
farm hand had been killed. Next, a fire from heaven burned up all of the sheep and
herdsmen. Then a messenger arrived and declared that some had driven
off the camels, and killed his servants. And while that messenger
was still speaking, like all the other messengers, another messenger came in and told
Job that a wind had swept in from the desert, and destroyed his oldest
son's house, with all of his sons and daughters present, which were
killed.
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22 NIV)
The jest
of that is that Job did not blame God. But the story continues, into
God putting Job under Satan's complete control, but was instructed not to
hurt Job. Then Job was personally put to the test, to see if he
would break, and curse God. The result, in a nutshell is that Satan
lost that one too. Job still glorified and magnified the name of the
Lord.
Will
mention this one more time. Abstinence started in the spring of
seventy six. The spiritual awakening began in the spring of eighty
two. The fulfilled mansions/noahhite effort began before Desert
Storm, in ninety one. After a few Copyrights through the Library of
Congress, and IRS non-profit approval through that government agency, we
started the internet web site in the fall of 1999, and it was published in
Feb. 2000. The architectural
concepts
began in 2002, after the purchase of an expensive cad program, a year or
so earlier.
Hopefully last, we are adding some thirty or so anonymous recovery topics
to the web site, in recent weeks. And God has not blessed this
effort yet, even after perpetual seven day work weeks year after year, many hundreds of
twenty hour work days of effort, and many years of uncountable sleepless
nights. Sure do hope that it will be soon - God's blessing, but God's will be done,
not mine. Remember reading one scripture, not long ago, that said
something about whether or not the good deeds that we work on would have
staying power. Wonder how long that test lasts?
Then he
called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen.
"If any of you
wants to be my follower," he
told them,
"you must put aside your own pleasures and shoulder your cross, and
follow me closely. If you insist on saving your life, you will
lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for
the sake of the Good News (the
gospel) will ever
know what it means to really live."
(Mark 8:34-35 TLB)
"But
didn't I tell you that you will see a wonderful miracle
from God if you believe?" Jesus
asked her. (John
11:40 TLB)
*This thought brings us to
Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness.
This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our
lifetime.
