Passionate Patience and the Wayward Believer
A while back I started reading the Message translation of the Bible. It’s the first time I’ve spent much time in that particular translation. Occasionally, I’ve compared different verses from my go-to translations ESV & NLT to the Message, but I haven’t done a deep dive. I’ve found it to be a very good experience. Eugene Peterson does a great job of putting the Bible into layman’s terms and I find it easier to take small nuggets of wisdom from this translation. Also on my heart, are my friends and acquaintances that have let the interruptions of COVID have a lasting impact on their faith lives. I’ve found the story of Paul in Acts to be an inspiration for those wayward believers and even the not-so-wayward believers.
The book of Acts tells the story of the early church including Paul’s conversion and missionary journeys. Once Paul is converted on the road to Damascus and works with the founding church leaders to bring the message of Jesus to the Gentiles he goes to work. Like Alexander Hamilton, he was non-stop. At one point in his journey, he has the calling to return to Jerusalem. His friends are warning him that it’s not a good idea because the Jewish leaders there are opposed to him, but Paul presses on with his calling. Sure enough, shortly after his arrival, he’s arrested and brought before the Governor, Felix.
Acts 24
He (Governor Felix) gave orders to the centurion to keep Paul in custody, but to more or less give him the run of the place and not prevent his friends from helping him….27After two years of this, Felix was replaced by Porcius Festus. Still playing up to the Jews and ignoring justice, Felix left Paul in prison
https://my.bible.com/bible/97/ACT.24.MSG
Essentially he was on house arrest for two years! Remember those first few months of COVID? Felt like house arrest to me. We all experienced three things during COVID that Paul experienced in his time in prison.
- Limited access to our/his faith family
- Interruption of our/his faith habits
- Interruption of our/his ability to fulfill our/his faith purposes
What amazes me about Paul is how he didn’t allow these interruptions to slow him down too much. I would imagine day after day of being in prison Paul would have gotten discouraged and lost his spark. He doesn’t, in his time in prison, he wrote 3-4 letters that became books of the Bible. He also must have written and counseled numerous other believers and friends. He showed what Eugene Peterson in Romans 5 calls passionate patience.
Romans 5:3-5 We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
https://my.bible.com/bible/97/ROM.5.MSG
I’m going to define passionate patience as pressing on in our faith journey regardless of our circumstances. Paul showed this passionate patience while he was in prison and I think we need to exercise passionate patience with our brothers and sisters who have become wayward believers. I think we all have people on our friend’s list who have let the interruptions listed above impact their faith journey. In Paul’s letters, he is encouraging to his audience, but also challenging and that’s the same approach we need to take with our friends who have become wayward believers.
Certainly, those friends in my life that COVID has interrupted their faith journeys are on my heart, but what can you take away from Paul’s passionate patience in prison? What does passionate patience look like to you?