God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Even Christians who refuse to indulge personally in sinful sexual activity often watch movies and shows, read books and articles, and visit Internet sites that highlight, display, promote, or make light of sexual immorality. It’s as if we’ve said to the world, “We’re not going to do what you do, but we will gladly entertain ourselves by watching you.” It’s sick, isn’t it, this tendency that brings delight to us when we observe others in sexual sin?
Another reason [patience] is so hard to come by is that we often don’t like the way it comes. Romans 5:3 says, “Suffering produces endurance,” and James 1:3 says, “The testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” In both cases the product is patient endurance – the ability to remain under tremendous weight and pressure without succumbing. That which produces this is the difficult part: suffering, testing, trials. We would prefer an easier I way for the fruit to be produced, but this is God’s way (Robert Carver)!
