Healing Family Relationships Through PatienceSample

Another area where I struggle is being patient with God in light of His "tardiness" in sanctifying those around me. I believe in the work of the Holy Spirit to make us more like Christ, but I just think He could be working a little faster on a few key people in my life.

My wife and I have seven children, so I live with eight other people. Granted, that number is dropping as more of our children are launching through the college years. But as I am writing these words, all the kids are home on summer break. By the grace of God, each one of our children have put their faith in Christ, but we all continue to struggle with sin. I wake up each day facing the daunting prospect of making it through the day with eight sinful people living under my roof. You can imagine how difficult my life must be! Technically, there are nine sinners in the family, with myself as Sinner in Chief, but I prefer to focus on their problems. Hopefully the humor is coming through here.

As a parent, it is easy to become frustrated with the lack of progress we see in our kids' growth. When will he learn to keep his room clean? When will she stop being so defensive? When will he pay attention to the speed limit? When will she stop picking on her little sister? It is easy for me to get exasperated with the slow character growth in my kids or my wife, while I simultaneously offer myself a pass for areas of my life that are not progressing. As long as I am "trying" or "doing my best" to change a bad habit in my life, I expect grace, tolerance, and even affirmation from my wife and kids.

If we want our believing family members to be gracious to us regarding the slow growth God is bringing about in our lives, we must strive to be patient with God's slow work in their hearts as well. I continually remind myself, "This person is not my project! They are God's project. I am not sanctifying them by my 'holy spirit,' God is sanctifying them by His Holy Spirit."

Reflection Question: Which family member's spiritual growth are you most impatient about? Do you need to repent of spiritual pride?