His Great Patience - The One Year Praying through the Bible for Your Kids

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:12-14

PAUL GREW UP AT THE FEET OF GAMALIEL, the best teacher of the Old Testament Scriptures in his day. We read in Acts that Paul said, “As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today. And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison” (Acts 22:3-4).

So here was Paul, raised in an intensely religious home with the finest education in the Scriptures possible from the finest teacher. And instead of seeing and believing in Christ, he became the most rabid persecutor of those who embraced Christ. Because he was exposed to so much light in the Scriptures and raged against it, he described himself as the worst of sinners. If we had known him in the height of his violence against all who followed Christ, we would never have believed that he would follow the Lord himself. And we certainly would not have believed that he would serve Christ and lead his people in the way he did.

Paul’s story demonstrates that even someone who grows up in a Scripture-saturated home only to turn violently against Christ is not beyond the patience of God. Paul wrote, “God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16).

Lord, I confess that I am often impatient to see change in ________’s life even though you are so very patient with me! You often seem to take your time to draw your own to yourself. You sometimes allow those who belong to you to rage against you before they finally bow before you. Help me to trust your timing as you patiently pursue ________ to become all that you intend for ________ to be.