Daily Devotional: Monday, Feb 8

Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Patience & Kindness

Weekend Music links on iTunes: Salvation is Here by Hillsong United; Let the Praises Ring by Lincoln Brewster; Your Name by Paul Baloche; Let Us Adore by Hillsong.

Read: Proverbs 14:29; Galatians 5:16-24; Colossians 3:12

Think: We've all heard the prayer: "Lord, make me more patient-and do it now!"

Why is it that patience disappears when we are late for an important appointment and are caught on 520 during terrible traffic? Or we jump in the "10 items or less" line at the grocery store, only to find ourselves behind someone with 16 items!

Patience isn't just a virtue, it's a very real fruit of the Spirit. So if we think about it when we show impatience its like serving rotten fruit instead of the sweet ripe fruit that comes from having Jesus the center of our lives. Just like Pastor Ben mentioned this weekend, being forced to wait drives up the stress and shortens our fuse. When that happens, we not only fail to be patient but we undercut the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

Since God is a patient God, when we give up being patient we miss the opportunity to show our little corner of the world the glory of God. Bursts of impatience only show that we are more concerned with our own agendas than the needs and struggles of others.

So maybe we all need to take a deep breath and turn our focus away from ourselves and focus on how we can patiently love others and be about God‘s agenda.

Do: Let's work to turn our eyes off of our own wants, and agendas for today and try to see each delay, distraction, interruption through God's eyes. What might He be up to in the middle of the things that try our patience today?

Pray: God, You know the times I am less than patient. Forgive me. I pray that You would fill me with your Spirit and help me as I go through today to keep You front and center and that I would genuinely care about others... Enough to put them before myself. As I encounter frustrations and delays, help me to respond like You, Jesus, with grace, with love, with kindness. Amen.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.

4505 236th Ave. NE • Redmond, WA 98053 • 425-869-4400 • info@timberlakeonline.org