How patient can I be these days? Here is our familiar story. Moses was gone a long time when he went up the mountain to receive the covenant from God. The Israelites grew impatient, so they decided to make their own god, crafted from gold. They had committed idolatry! God knew what was happening and wanted to punish them. Moses pleaded with God to remember His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to multiply their descendants. He also reminded God that the Egyptians would win if the Israelites all died. God listened to Moses and relented. Will my attitude be like Moses' to save or the impatient people who treated Moses and his words as unreliable?

Jesus had been challenged for healing on the Sabbath. In this passage, Jesus was listing the witnesses that testify to who He is and to His authority as the Son. John the Baptist had testified. Jesus' works testified that the Father had sent Him. The Father had testified. The Scriptures too testified on Jesus' behalf. As well, Moses had written about Jesus. And yet the people did not believe. Jesus concluded by telling the people that they did not have the love of God in them; nor did they seek the glory of God but only the glory of other people. They failed to allow the words of the Lord to abide in them. Patience is one attitude of love. The love of God is essential in order to understand who Jesus is, patiently.