Show me kindness, not impatience;

believe in me, not dismiss me;

forgive me and forget, not record and rehearse;

give me patience, not irritation;

remain close beside me, not walk away.

Lord Jesus, which is my image of You? Do I see You as the One who is unfailingly kind, patient, forgiving, and enduring or the One who is demanding, exacting, impatient, and disappointed?

The world is always measuring, critiquing, comparing, telling us that we are not good enough, but not You. As Paul writes in Romans, our minds need renewing, divorced from the world’s way of thinking. We need to break away from the world’s way of thinking and embrace Your truth, to accept that we are loved for who we are, regardless.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul articulates thirteen evidences of love. Jesus, this is YOU!  Burn this image of You into my mind and heart. Cultivate my expectations of You as one who is patient, kind, hopeful, enduring, never rude, jealous, boastful, irritable, demanding; keeps no record of wrongs; always believes the best.

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Examining specific events in Jesus life as evidence of His persistent patience, unwavering kindness, and incurable expectations for the best amplifies and enhances our understanding of who He really is. For instance, even though Peter bounced back and forth between moments of acute insightfulness, unfailing loyalty and times of impetuous foolish behavior, Jesus never walked away from Peter. Jesus loved Peter. Always believing the best about him, He saw beyond Peter’s weaknesses, envisioning the strong leader He could become.

Jesus’ showed constant patience with all the disciples as they continually misunderstood His mission and teaching. At the Last Supper, even though Jesus had just announced that He was going to be betrayed and suffer and die, the disciples began to argue as to who among them was the greatest. Jesus, however, understood what was stirring in the disciples. Knowing that He was leaving them and was going to be betrayed and die, He empathized with their confusion and fear. Perhaps their boasting was prompted by insecurity, thinking what have I done, leaving my family, job, the life I knew and now it’s all falling apart. Maybe they were putting on a facade, arguing about their claim to greatness, reward and position to cover their fears.

Jesus always grasps the inner workings of our lives. He knows what is churning under the surface and compassionately responds to our real needs and issues, not the surface. On this occasion, instead of calling attention to the disciples’ insensitivity, Jesus showed incredible tolerance and kindness, commending all of them for their loyalty to Him.

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Jesus’ unchanging kindness and mercy surfaced over and over. He stopped for the woman who courageously reached out to touch His robe to stop the flow of blood and also for the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well with the very checkered past—five husbands and an immoral relationship with her present companion. Even though the woman who touched His robe was healed, Jesus knew it would be important to validate her intrepidity and take a stand for her against the criticisms of the religious leaders. His acknowledgement of her made all the difference, not only on that day but for the rest of her life.

He also affirmed the Samaritan woman who came to draw water in the heat of the day, most likely to avoid engaging with other women. Jesus understood her isolation. His message that He was the Messiah was of paramount importance, but endorsing her personhood played a significant part in how she would receive this message. Jesus did not approach her with a broad generic brush, but He framed their conversation around the details of her life. We are never unexceptional, ordinary, run-of-the-mill for Jesus; His love for each of us would never allow for that.

Drilling down into Jesus’ interactions with others can deepen our comprehension of His true nature and, in the process, renew our minds. Pastor and teacher John Piper, similarly observes: “What does the Spirit do to “transform” us into the image of the God-exalting Son of God? He enables us to “behold the glory of the Lord.” This is how the mind is renewed — by steadfastly gazing at the glories of Christ for what they really are.”[1]

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[1] Piper, J. August 16, 2004, The renewed mind and how to have it. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-renewed-mind-and-how-to-have-it, accessed 5.29.2023.

It is not that Jesus does not have sterner traits. We see them surface when He turned over the money-changers tables in the Temple, called out the Pharisees as white-washed tombs, hypocrites, blind guides, etc. and, as a man from the crowd called out to Jesus to negotiate his inheritance with his brother, He responded quite directly, saying, “Man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you (Luke 12:14)?” We particularly recall that Jesus had extremely strong words for His own disciple when he tried to advise him not to say He was going to die in Jerusalem. Jesus unhesitatingly said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men (Mark 8:33).”

Jesus always brings light to darkness. If it takes sharpness, He will not turn aside. He is never unmindful of the response needed in-a-given situation, but we do not have to fear an unmeasured or undue reaction. For in God, “mercy always triumphs over judgment (James 2:12-13).” He will correct us, but this does not mean His love for us has changed. It remains.

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THE PAINTING

Separating, dividing, splitting, withdrawing, departing, the twelve forms break away to initiate the beginnings of new forms. Each form pulls away, not in an explosive manner, but with deliberation—sharp, clean cuts. If the fractured forms in each of the twelve panels are to find their own identity, they will need to move further and further away from the original form. For now, they still retain much of the initial form and identity. New identities will be formed through moving out and withdrawing, creating larger distances between the separated forms. This is how we find our new identity in Christ, breaking away, not always with the cleanness displayed in these forms, but by putting more and more space between our old and new selves. “We are new creatures in Christ, old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

Lord Jesus, it all begins in the mind and travels to the heart. I have discovered that dwelling on You allows me to break away from old habits and ways of thinking. I need to listen to the Holy Spirit, letting Him remind me of Your incredible patience with me; Your undeserved, continuously extended kindness toward me; Your faith that never turns away from me; and Your resolute refusal to record my wrongs. If I would dwell on these things much more grace would be mine. It’s there, I just don’t acquire it because I haven’t broken away from wrong ways of thinking about You. Rather than constructing my own image of You, I need to let the Holy Spirit reveal You to me as You are.

When my thinking transforms to let, You be You, I change. For how can I be abrupt and dismissive when the Holy Spirit reminds me of Your unvarying patience with me? How can I be insensitive and rude when the Holy Spirit calls to mind Your many gracious kindnesses to me? How can I revert to believing less than the best of another when the Holy Spirit reveals Your optimum expectations for what I can become? 

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Jesus, ours is a relationship, not a performance. Yes, You have standards, but  achieving Your standards is a partnership between You and me, not a one-sided affair. If I let You be You, I will realize how thoroughly our relationship is laced with mercy.

You show me kindness, not impatience,

You believe in me, not dismiss me,

You forgive me and forget, not record and rehearse,

You remain close, not walk away.

Holy Spirit, teach me to know Jesus as He is, not as I have constructed. Wrestle wrong images from my mind and heart, replace them with the beauty of His goodness. Let me glorify Him because I know Him as He is.

Sydney Walker, June 7, 2023

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