Patience vs. Comfort

"Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded towards one another, according to Christ Jesus..." ~ Romans 15:5

Often times, if we're honest, practicing patience can be difficult and uncomfortable.

So, it's interesting that Paul would call God the God of patience and comfort. Seemingly, those two things don't go together.

In fact, they feed and fuel each other.

The more we practice patience, the more comfortable and "second nature" it becomes.

Likewise, the more we rest and find comfort in Jesus, the easier it is to practice patience.

God is the God of the oxymoron. He can take two seemingly opposing things and make them happen in our lives.

His strength is shown through our weakness. We gain our life by losing it. We become great in the Kingdom by humbling ourselves. And patience and comfort come from the same God.

In the words of Paul, may the God of patience and comfort bless you today.

J.W.

Follow The Leader (Part 8)

"The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing... So Abram went, as the Lord had told him." ~ Genesis 12:1-4

Often times, following God's calling requires us to leave that which is familiar or comfortable to us.

In Genesis 12, God told Abram to leave the land, people, and household with which Abram was most familiar and to go to a new, foreign, unfamiliar land.

While that command may have been a tough pill for Abram to swallow, after the command was a promise. God promised that if Abram obeyed, He would bless Abram and make his name great (in fact, he would change Abram's name entirely).

But in order to receive the promise of God, Abraham had to obey the command of God - that is, the command to leave the familiar and enter the unfamiliar.

So, the question is, how uncomfortable are you willing to be? And if the answer is not very, then are you really ready to follow God's calling on your life? You can't complain about how slow things might be moving if you're not ready, willing, and able to step out on faith when He tells you to.

God bless,
J.W.