Choose one of the characteristics of God's personality: anger, compassion, grace, love, jealousy, justice, mercy, patience, pity. Imagine with as much detail as possible in very concrete detail how this characteristic would appear in your life if you were as perfect as God created and requires you to be. (NOTE: Avoid any discussion or mention of the holiness given to believers by God through Jesus Christ.)
Part 1 (two page maximum)
First, for the characteristic you imagined (above), describe at least one hypothetical situation in as much detail as possible how this would be displayed in this situation from your life. Offer specific, concrete details for the situation.
Contract Paper #1 - Part 1
Of all God’s divine characteristics, of all the manifestations of His holy, unique, set apart being, patience is what I covet most. For even though His long-suffering nature does not lack the power to react when offended, that same nature still unfailingly demonstrates a limitless capacity to endure disappointment. When faced with sin and failure from the world He always responds true to His character. That’s not to say that God never casts down immediate punishment for sin, or that His holiness is somehow compromised by this particular trait he possesses. Rather, He often withstands assault even-tempered. As the Bible tells us, “He is slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness.”
His responses are calculated and never flippant. And whether His fuse runs for hundreds of years or only a few seconds, His explosive actions never compromise His patience. He is perfect and His judgments are always pure, and true, and right. This attribute of God is admittedly mysterious to me. How does He know when to wait and when to draw the line? I wonder how I’d respond differently to everyday situations that come up if I could have at my disposal his inexhaustible bounty of composure.
Take for example the following hypothetical situation. John and his wife just recently moved to a different city and state for him to begin a new career. Lucky for them, one of their college buddies had an apartment in the city where they wanted to move. He plays Minor League Baseball in Tennessee, so he wasn’t staying in his apartment at that time. So he offered it to them, and they jumped at his offer, buying them time to apartment shop. After staying in his place for a few weeks, they then found out that he needed them to vacate soon because his parents just sold their house and needed a place to stay. Again, lucky for them, a fellow church member and his family were going on vacation and they told them that they could house sit for them until they got back.
The timing worked out great because right when the church family got back, John and his wife were able to move into an apartment they’d found a few weeks prior. After several weeks of living out of boxes, they could finally have a place to call home. But once they got all moved in, on their third day in the apartment, their washing machine flooded. And the new furniture they’d just recently had delivered to their apartment got scratched up between the store and their apartment. The furniture place isn’t eager to address the problem, their living room carpet is still wet, their stuff is still in boxes on the remaining patches of dry carpet, and they both have to start their jobs tomorrow! If I were John, how would I reflect God’s perfect patience and thus image a facet of his holiness under these circumstances?
Obviously it would be impossible for me to do this adequately. I haven’t the ability to perform amidst ideal circumstances in a perfectly patient manner, much less in these. But, hypothetically, I would consider the frame of the lady at the furniture store, and remember that she is but dust. I would sympathize with her probable hectic, stressful schedule and circumstances. If she tells me she’s going to eventually come then I’ll take her at her word and not get all bent out of shape. Every time I call to remind her about our plight I would be respectful, considerate, pleasant, and loving; never reacting from sheer selfish, angry emotion. If I do feel the need to push the envelope and bear down, it would always be calculated, cool, calm, and collected. I would always pepper gentleness with strength.
I would also acknowledge that the apartment complex’s maintenance people have a ton going on and don’t have the time to check all the washers. I would be understanding and sympathetic towards them, realizing that all will be well soon. I would be concerned about mirroring God’s holiness through patience more than myself getting a fair shake. Advancing God’s agenda selflessly and meekly serving as my primary motivation. The tricky part of this whole assignment is that you really can’t grasp the essence of this characteristic apart from all His others. For His patience will not last forever. This seemingly endless supply has frequently in the past and will ultimately in the future be overcome and overshadowed by other qualities. Which makes the practice of each impossible for us, because only God can perfectly transcend the borders all of His holy and divine attributes.
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In case you haven't heard, or couldn't tell by the extreme detail I put into this story, it actually is in part what happened to me and Katy. And I have learned since writing this that the lady that runs the furniture store where we bought the couch has been in and out of the hospital for the past several weeks, caring for her husband who was in a really bad motorcycle accident. Her husband is not doing well at all, and is gradually experiencing more and more internal bleeding. In short, they are not sure if he's going to be able to overcome this. When I heard that, it really put our not having a couch in perspective. Even though it's impossible for us to exhibit any one of God's perfect and holy attributes, we can still strive to show grace to those who disappoint us. You never know what might be going on underneath the surface.
