Love is Patient

Everything around us moves so quickly, especially now with the Christmas season in full swing. The holiday season can test our patience, at the grocery store, on the road, even at home with our family. We want our packages to be delivered on time and we want everything to be perfect. Why is it we let ourselves become so frustrated and angry during this season of love and giving? Paul gives us some great insight in the book of Romans about this.

“So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” Romans 7:21-24

I know Cliffhanger! Paul felt the same way we feel, a slave to the sinful nature within us. Frustrated with himself for allowing himself to do things we know he does not want to do. He finishes out the chapter with some relief:

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 7: 25 – Romans 8: 1-2

My prayer is we may not lose sight of Jesus Christ our Lord, especially when the stress of this season is weighing heavy. Let us be reminded that love is patient and kind, and it is because of Jesus we are here to celebrate this season!

 – Jon Hartke, Hospitality Services Director