What amazing patience God has!

Romans 9:22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Have you ever considered how patient God is with the human race? In the previous verse, Paul had said, “Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” In other words, we are to think of the whole human race as one lump of clay. We learn in this verse that the entire lump was prepared for destruction. Did God prepare them for destruction? No. Paul explained how the human race was prepared for destruction through the sin of Adam and through our sin in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” At the moment of Adam’s and Eve’s sin, God was willing to demonstrate His wrath and power. He had promised they would die the day they ate of the forbidden fruit, and they did. They were separated from God’s presence, but God decided to be patient in His expression of the wrath and power sin deserves. We will learn the reason why God chose to endure us in the next verse, but today, we can take great encouragement from the fact that even though God was justified in pouring out His wrath and power against sin, He chose to be patient for 4000 years when He demonstrated His wrath upon His own Son, Jesus Christ, and at the same time His powerful love. Now that’s an enduring patience, isn’t it? How patient are we with those who sin against us? As we live to love with Jesus, we can know from this verse that His love not only is an enduring love, but that His love expresses an incredible patience. 1 Cor. 13:4. “Love is patient.” 1 Thess. 5:14 “Be patient with everyone.” James 5:7 “Be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” In Gal. 5:22, patience is one of the expressions of the fruit of love. Today, let your love for others be filled with patience. I’m sure we will have many opportunities to express patience in our speech, our facial expressions, and our responses to those God puts in our paths. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com