having success with people…

here in the fifth chapter of the nt book of james we see that it is useful to be patient all the time but one of the special times that we need an extra dose of patience is when people won’t change.  when they won’t even try to be difference in their behavior. 

he gives us an example here in verse 10 (msg), take the old prophets as your mentors. they put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring GOD.

you might ask, “what was the function of prophets?  what did they do?”  well, they were to help people change, to bring them back to GOD, to help them be different in their behavior.  it was not an easy job.

have you noticed that people resist change?  when you make any little tiny suggestion, they resist you! 

                                                  

do you have anybody in your life right now who refuses to change?  do you know how difficult it is to live with that kind of person?  we need patience with people.  joyce landorf calls these “irregular people” – they are people who only see their own way.  they may never change.  what are you going to do about it?  james says to have patience.

now the word “patience” in the greek is the word “macrothumos” – “macro” meaning “long” and “thumos” (from which we get the word “thermometer”) meaning “heat”.  it literally means “it takes a long time for you to get hot”.  you’ve got a long fuse, you don’t blow up, you don’t get overheated with people. 

if you’re going to be a success with people, you have to learn patience.  if you’re going to be successful parents, you have to have a long fuse.  you don’t get overheated. 

james says you need to be patient when people are unchangeable and won’t cooperate with you. 

just a thought from the front porch…