Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:12 (NIV)
Have you noticed that people don’t change as quickly as you’d like? Maybe your parents are far from God and they’ve seen great fruit in your life from knowing God, but yet they haven’t made a decision for Him yet. Maybe you have a brother who keeps saying he’s going to change his bad habits but it seems like he never does. How do you stay patient with people who don’t change and do the things you want them to do?
It’s difficult loving people who don’t make good choices. Sometimes you just want to yell at them to stop, give them the silent treatment or do something drastic to get them to want to change. The reality is, getting other people to change is almost impossible. So how do you keep a good attitude when others are driving you nuts?
Read: Three Steps to Love Difficult People
One way is by choosing daily to walk in patience toward them. You may not ever get the person to change, but you can choose to change your attitude toward that person. You can choose to be patient when they mess up, when they don’t treat you right, and when they don’t make the choices you’d like them to. Even if they’ve broken promise after promise to you, you’re ultimately in charge of your attitudes. You get to choose if you let them make you bitter. You choose if they cause you to lose your peace. And you get to choose if you stay patient toward them.
So today, if you’ve got a difficult person in your life, don’t give up. Choose to be patient to them. Even when they’re doing those things that make you mad, remember that God loves them. You may never be able to get them to change, but you can choose to have a good attitude in the process. Choose to practice patience and peace today.