Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Above all, my beloved, 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, NRSV)
Everything that is good is worth the wait…
Can you think of things you have had to wait for?
When I think about waiting on good things, my kids come to mind…
You find out you are going to have a baby and then you have to wait for them to fully come to you for a while. You wonder all the time, will I be a good father/mother? Am I really cut out to be a parent? What do I know about raising a child?
Or maybe it was your first car you waited for…
Or maybe the love of your life…
we have to be patient and wait in life all of the time. In fact in our American society we hurry up to get somewhere so we can wait in line…
We wait and wait and wait..
And here James tells us to be patient with one another and not to grumble against each other so that the world does not judge us. We need to take each other in stride, because in the end we will probably find that neither side was fully right, and we both needed to give a little.
So suffer with your brothers and sisters as we wait, not make your brothers and sisters suffer while we wiat and be patient in all things.
aSacredRebel 