Patience Is Suffering

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

James 5:7-12

So many of the situations that we find in life are endurable because we know what their end will be.  We need to be patient, patient for the Lord.  As a gay Christian this is not something that is going to be easy.  We get persecuted for what we believe, some places we are ridiculed for our beliefs, and others, heterosexual Christians or LGBT non-believers reject us for our beliefs.   But, we must stand firm!

Waiting is hard.

In the black nights of suffering, when ominous clouds come in from the west, it's hard to know whether those clouds bring nourishing rain or devastating tornado that destroys a all in its path. We have no way of  knowing how long we'll be suffering from a disaster or how long our heart will ache.

Some might question why Job is given to us as a second example of patience since he did impatiently demand that God explain his sufferings to him (for example, Job 6). But Job is an excellent paradigm for us because though he questioned God, he never gave up his faith. Also, if Job is our example we can see that even the most patient of God's servants will not be perfect until they are glorified. Finally, because Job was one of the first to anticipate the final judgment, he serves as an example for us who also await that day (Job 19:25–26).

We need to love one another, stop talking negatively about one another.  Watch our tongues because what we say usually is what is in our hearts.  We shouldn't be speaking with hate, condemnation, gossiping just to tear some one else down.

We need to stand for the Lord, let others see Him in us!  No matter what the consequences we need to be bringing others to Him and not making others start thinking that if that is what a 'Christian' is like then what's the point?

Just do our best to remember that we shouldn't have to 'swear' about these things...simply say Yes or No.  That we are followers of Jesus because He has died for our sins and if we believe and have repented for our sins He will give us eternal life!  This is why we follow.  No arguing with others about it, no 'swearing' about it.  Just let it be...Yes or No. 

P.S. I apologize for the late post.  It's been an incredibly busy weekend, and I did not have computer access until just now.