Patience et foi

Les apôtres dirent au Seigneur: Augmente-nous la foi. Luc 17. 5

Ne vous lassez pas en faisant le bien. 2 Thessaloniciens 3. 13
 

En chemin avec les autres disciples, Pierre pose la question à Jésus: “Seigneur, combien de fois mon frère péchera-t-il contre moi et lui pardonnerai-je? Jusqu'à sept fois? Jésus lui dit: Je ne te dis pas jusqu'à sept fois, mais jusqu'à soixante-dix fois sept fois” (Matthieu 18. 21, 22). Dans une autre circonstance Jésus leur dit: “Si ton frère pèche, reprends-le et, s'il se repent, pardonne-lui; si sept fois par jour il pèche contre toi, et que sept fois il retourne à toi, en disant: Je me repens, tu lui pardonneras” (Luc 17. 3, 4).

Mettons-nous à la place des disciples! Mon frère me fait du mal, il vient me demander pardon, je pardonne. Il recommence, je pardonne. Il recommence encore… Vraiment, il exagère!

Face à une telle réponse, les disciples ont la bonne réaction: ils demandent plus de foi pour atteindre un tel niveau de patience et d'amour envers les autres, car seule la foi peut nous aider en cela. En effet, le Seigneur Jésus dit que la foi rend possible ce qui est impossible: “Si vous aviez de la foi comme un grain de moutarde, vous diriez à ce mûrier: Déracine-toi et plante-toi dans la mer; et il vous obéirait” (Luc 17. 6).

Hudson Taylor, missionnaire en Chine au 19e siècle, avait fait l'expérience de la puissance de la foi. Il disait pourtant à propos de ce verset: “Nous avons besoin, non pas d'une grande foi, mais d'un grand Dieu”.

Ce grand Dieu et Sauveur (Tite 2. 13) est-il le vôtre?

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Take the Time

Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. Luke 19:5

The best gift you can give to others may be your time.

Rima, a Syrian woman who had recently moved to the United States, tried to explain to her tutor with hand motions and limited English why she was upset. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she held up a beautifully arranged platter of fatayer (meat, cheese, and spinach pies) that she had made. Then she said, “One man,” and made a swishing sound as she pointed from the door to the living room and then back to the door. The tutor pieced together that several people from a nearby church were supposed to visit Rima and her family and bring some gifts. But only one man had shown up. He had hurried in, dropped off a box of items, and rushed out. He was busy taking care of a responsibility, while she and her family were lonely and longed for community and to share their fatayer with new friends.

Taking time for people is what Jesus was all about. He attended dinner parties, taught crowds, and took time for interaction with individuals. He even invited Himself to one man’s house. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, climbed a tree to see Him, and when Jesus looked up, He said, “Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:1–9). And Zacchaeus’s life was changed forever.

Because of other responsibilities, we won’t always be able to take the time. But when we do, we have a wonderful privilege of being with others and watching the Lord work through us.

How have others taken time for you? How might you show Jesus’s love to someone this week?