2-13-17<\/p>\n
I heard about one of those Management Consultants who conduct weekend seminars, telling a story about his advice to a trainee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two\u2026 essential\u2026 things\u2026 never to forget\u2026\u201d and he paused some more \u2013 \u201cwhen you set out\u2026 to navigate your\u2026 career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annoyed by the strangely lugubrious rollout, the trainee insisted, \u201cYes? YES? Well???\u201d<\/p>\n
The instructor replied, \u201cPatience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Point taken. But the trainee pressed on. \u201cWhat\u2019s the other thing???\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he could finish the question, the instructor interrupted: \u201cTiming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good advice, if we think about it. (By the way, you just saved two whole days, and a $300 registration fee, for the seminar!) (You\u2019re welcome.) Like most good advice, the best source is not a Management guru, or even Life\u2019s Experiences, but the Bible.<\/p>\n
The famous verse \u2013 so famous that even irreligious people often quote it during their marriage ceremony \u2013 from I Corinthians 13, offers \u201cpatience\u201d as the first of the words that define Love: \u201cLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.\u201d Wow. \u201cPatience\u201d leads the list.<\/p>\n
A verse we all should remember when things are wrong, or insecure, or bleak, or threatening, or dangerous\u2026 and we fret \u2013 \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d How much simpler can an assurance of God be? My daughter Heather meditates on Psalm 46:10 by parsing its words individually: each phrase brimming with meaning.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe.\u201d \u201cBe still.\u201d \u201cBe still and know.\u201d \u201cBe still and know that I am.\u201d \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d Thus comes spiritual patience.<\/p>\n
Then there is the closely related virtue, a sense of timing. Many of the Israelites\u2019 woes, and their leaders\u2019 mistakes, came from disobeying God\u2019s directions, being impulsive, jumping the gun, so to speak.<\/p>\n
Many Christians do this from mistaken confidence that they have God\u2019s Will; are full of the Spirit; when often it is old-fashioned Pride.<\/p>\n
Peter walked on water as his Savior did and instructed him to do\u2026 until he looked down. Impulsive. <\/p>\n
Of all the Apostles, I identify the most with Peter, I must admit. Impulsive, sometimes too eager to please God, when all He asks is obedience. The \u201cother side of that coin\u201d concerns Peter, again, and those who were told to \u201cwait\u201d for the Disciple to replace Judas. They were impatient\u2026 they substituted THEIR timing for God\u2019s\u2026 and drew straws. A guy named Matthias was chosen.<\/p>\n
I describe him that way because we never hear of him again in the Bible. He was chosen by 11 men holding an election. But the Holy Spirit, in God\u2019s timing, would APPOINT the successor: Paul.<\/p>\n
Peter was an impulsive, bumbling, flawed follower of Jesus. After swearing he would never do so, he denied Jesus three times, leading to the crucifixion. But in God\u2019s timing, Peter soon became a wise, inspirational, strong leader. A great Manager, in fact, of the early church, it could be said. On his confession of Jesus as Lord, the church had its foundation.<\/p>\n
What changed? Obedience to God\u2019s timing. In that timing, baptism played a role in the step-by-step timing we are to obey, ourselves. When Peter and the Disciples had been baptized in the Spirit \u2013 and as other converts were to experience in a tidal wave of belief after Pentecost \u2013 the promise of Zechariah 4:6 was confirmed: \u201cNot by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, said the Lord of hosts\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
Jesus Himself had no earthly ministry we are told about, for the first 30 years of His life. Then he was baptized in the River Jordan, according to God\u2019s timing. The Holy Spirit came upon Him, and His heavenly ministry commenced.<\/p>\n
Patience is a virtue. And timing? Always remember to set your clocks and watches to God-Standard Time.<\/p>\n
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