by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Learning Patience on Our Journey to Maturity

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

PBPWMGIFWMY

You may have seen these initials on a button or a poster. It might have been as confusing to you as it was to me when I first ran across them in college. In fact, I had to write them out for this devotion then check my accuracy on the internet.

These initials stand for, Please Be Patient With Me, God Isn’t Finished With Me Yet. It reminds all of us that we are still a work in progress and will be that work until we die or Christ returns.

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11–13 English Standard Version

This process of growing into Christ can be frustrating, as frustrating as looking at this picture that feels incomplete. We want to be at that point of maturity now. We’re tired of the molding and shaping that God works in us.

This growing into the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” requires three things.

It requires confession. Growing into Christ means that we admit that we have fallen short of Christ’s expectations. We are not there yet because of our sin.

It requires forgiveness. Growing into Christ means that we cling to the mercy of God in Christ. It means that we not only receive this mercy from God, but we’re also gracious to ourselves.

It requires patience. Growing into Christ means that we not only need people to be patient with us, we need to be patient with ourselves as the Holy Spirit grows us into Christ as our head.

Please Be Patient With Me, God Isn’t Finished With Me Yet.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado