HOPE! - Patient Wisdom

When we allow Christ to live in our hearts, we begin to think like Christ – we begin to understand the very thoughts of God himself. God imparts his wisdom to us, allowing us to become not only vibrant and passionate about Jesus, but we begin to take on the characteristics of Christ as well. We are patient like he is patient. We rejoice with those who rejoice. We mourn with those who mourn.

This was modeled in the life of Jesus and seen in his own ministry with his disciples. Jesus spent all kinds of time with his disciples when they were in ministry together. He supervised them with a wisdom that was both patent and passionate. However, Jesus was not physically with them every moment of every day, even though he was very close to being with them at all times. He patiently looked out for his disciples and wisely made sure they did not get themselves into trouble.

This is seen on various occasions. When the disciples had been arguing amongst themselves about which one of them was the greatest, Jesus stepped in later and asked them what they had been arguing about on the road. The disciples were then ashamed of themselves as Jesus pointed out to them in patient wisdom that their priorities were in the wrong place. Working in the kingdom was not about being the greatest; it was about being a servant.

Peter also got himself into trouble on a number of occasions. When he was asked by the religious leaders whether or not Jesus paid the temple tax, he spoke for Jesus and said that of course he did. Later, Jesus went to Peter and patiently brought his impulsive answer to his attention, pointing out the ridiculousness of God giving money to God. However, Jesus does not seem as though he wanted to embarrass Peter or to offend the religious leaders on this matter so he sent Peter out to go catch a fish which had a coin in its mouth in order to pay for Peter’s tax and his. Jesus was showing Peter that God is all-resourceful, but also that God had humbled himself and became a man for the sake of others.

When Jesus’ disciples had returned to him after having gone throughout the countryside preaching the good news to all who would listen, Jesus was eager to hear their report. He did not send them out on their own, but sent them out in pairs to keep each other accountable among other reasons. Also, once he had sent them out he did not worry or fret about their mission. He wanted to hear how things had gone. When they returned to him they passionately gave him a glorious report which he seems to have been very pleased to hear.

However, in his patient wisdom, he even used this as a means for teaching them. They had been amazed that the demons themselves had submitted to them. Jesus passionately told them that rather than rejoicing that the devils had submitted to them, they should receive greater joy that their names were written in the book of life. Jesus said that he had seen Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Satan was already being defeated, so they should not have been too surprised that the demons were powerless against them.

Jesus was almost always available to answer his disciples’ questions. In his patient wisdom, he was not always peering over their shoulders, but he did  keep close enough distance to them so that he could intervene in case anything went wrong. And in his patient wisdom, he was there for them in order to passionately encourage them and let them know when they got it exactly right.