Episode 6: Patience as the Pathway to Peace
Just a little patience…yeah...
In this episode, I draw upon Guns N Roses, Jesus, Paul, and Miroslav Volf to talk about the kingdom value of patience.
As I get older I recognize my need for patience, because I want to be wise and nearly all wisdom can be summed up in one word: patience. For me, a rushed decision is normally a wrong decision. A peaceable and kind life cannot be lived in a hurry.
God is not in a hurry and so why do we live so hurried? We need practices to help us slow down and reject the hurried pace of life. A good and peaceable life is experienced in the kingdom of God which doesn’t move as fast as we would prefer.
The kingdom moves with the speed of a growing seed.
As peacemakers we need our hearts aligned with the values (and speed) of the kingdom of God, which means we need patience. Edmund Burke famously claimed, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." But what’s worse than doing nothing is doing evil in the name of the good. I don’t see the wisdom in reactive to evil impulsively. Rather I see wisdom in what Miroslav Volf writes in The End of Memory…
“To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned. After the first victory, evil would die if the second victory did not infuse it with new life.” - Miroslav Volf
Yes all that evil needs to happen in order for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing but in the same sense, evil can equally thrive when good men return evil for evil, insult for insult, hurt for hurt.
Jesus shows us a better way.
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