Long Game

“Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s emotions, than capturing a city.”
Proverbs 16:32 CSB

How well do you play the long game? I am not talking about sports. I am talking about life. How much time and effort have you put into figuring out how you should be living life each day so you end up becoming the type of person you want to be? I am not talking about short term goals or what activities to be involved in. I am referring to the development of character qualities, qualities like patience, integrity, meekness, self-control, kindness, thoughtfulness, honesty, gentleness, and godliness. Each of these qualities are only learned in the crucible of time and through the hard knocks of life. Interestingly we are unable to add these qualities to our lives without difficulties because it is only in the difficulties that these qualities become real and we are able to work on them. When life is easy and everything is going my way not much is really developed in me, and often I get the idea that things are going well because of something I have done. The verse at the beginning of the blog reminds us of the importance of patience and emotional control. Both of these are learned in the marathon of life, practicing attributes such as delayed gratification and holding my tongue when things aren’t the way I want or maybe not having to prove how right I am for the sake of relationship or someone else’s growth. Maybe it is reserving the expression of my opinion and judgement when expressing it is not beneficial to others. Maybe it is sacrificing my comfort and security for the good of others.
We all would agree that developing these character qualities is a great idea, I guess the question is, are we willing to make the short term sacrifices to become the person who is known for living out these character qualities daily? Only you can make that decision. No one can do it for you!

-Pastor Tim