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Now let's get into the show. Have you ever felt like life couldn't get any worse? And then one thing after another, bad news, bad news, bad news? Turns out what you don't need is a break. What you need is patience.
Practicing patience coming up right now on the Clear Ve Today Show. Uh You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis.
Welcome to the Clearview Today Show, and thank you for joining us in our studio today for another great conversation with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you're listening for the very first time today, we want to say welcome to the show. We're glad you're joining us, and we're going to let you know exactly who's talking to you. Dr.
Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, Today is going to hurt.
Well, do you need patience and do you need it right now? I need it right now and I won't. I need patience and I won't wait. I'm saying, Lord, hear my prayer. I need patience and I need it today.
I needed it yesterday, but. I'm going to be great, sister and I'm going to wait till today. Here's the thing is, like, I feel like we've talked about this a lot on the show. By the way, welcome. I should have welcomed you to the show, but I was so impatient.
I barreled ahead. That was clever. That was a clever device. Thank you. I didn't do it on purpose.
Dr. Shah, ever since I was a little kid, one thing that my parents have told me, my wife tells me, even to this day, even my kids say it, is that daddy is not a patient man. Yeah, and this is something I struggle with as well, because I want things to happen now. And it's not just things as in projects, but But changes in people's lives, I want them to happen now.
Sometimes frustrated, even get disheartened because I don't see The good changes in their lives happening now.
Now, what are you waiting for? What more do you need to understand? Go ahead and make it now. And I have. To learn that even in my own life, things didn't happen right away.
It took me years to get to the place that I have the understanding I do now. Not that I have full understanding, not even close, but I am far better today than I was. Two years ago than I was twelve years ago or twenty years ago. But when I see other people, I'm like, come on. What are they thinking?
Why? Why can't you see things the way I see it? Why don't you see the whole picture? Or why don't you see things differently? Come on, get with it.
And I have to remember patience. Yeah. People had patience with me. Why is patience such a struggle? Because I feel like a lot of people could echo this in various areas, whether it's your family, whether it's your work, whether it's your personal development.
I feel like a lot of people deal with this issue struggle to be patient because it's costly. why we struggle with patience because it's costly. Patients means time. Time is at stake.
So as time keeps rolling and bad mistakes are being repeated or bad conduct or not doesn't have to be bad as an evil, but just just just Not healthy conduct is being done again and again. You're going. Come on, you are hurting all of us. You are costing us money if you're in a business context or if you're in a church context. There are people around here, people who may not stay at the church, they may leave the church.
So that kind of fear But time is what gets us to be impatient. Let's get this now. I think, even on the positive side, too, maybe you can speak to this, Dr. Shah, is that the wisest people who have healthy ambition know that time is the most precious thing that you have.
So I think, like, for me, like, seeing, like you said, patients costing time.
Well, that's the most valuable thing I have.
So, if I'm having to wait for this, or if I'm having to do this the right way and not take shortcuts, rather. Maybe you see that as this is too costly. I want this right now. Right, absolutely. It's only with time that you learn to have patience.
It's only with time you learn people don't develop overnight. They don't grow in their maturity and their understanding and their wisdom overnight. Character is not developed with a snap of the finger or one event or two events that completely transform you. We hear stories like that, and I think those stories are misleading. We think that if that one thing happened, and man, I was a changed man.
Maybe not.
Some things take time. That's true. That is sort of the unfortunate thing about patients is if you want to develop patience, you've got to be patient. And patience equals time. That's right.
That's right. You know, I think about like the book of James is saying this. And because we just did a couple of episodes on obeying God and being people of right now, you know, do it right now. But there's, and that's, that is on the positive side of it. But then there is also this impulsive right now mentality that sometimes gets us into trouble because sometimes God's asking us to wait.
Right. How do you know in your life, Dr. Shaw, when God is telling you to act and when God is saying, hold up, hold back, watch what I'm about to do? Wow. How do I know when God is telling me to act?
And how do I know when God is telling me to hold back? That's a that's that is the question. Yeah, and maybe maybe it's not even something that I know, but it's something that I know when to pray for. You know what I mean? Like, how do you, how do you go about trying to discern that in your life?
When is taking a step forward, being obedient to God, and when is it my own impulsive nature? I try to, I try to, I try to have a big picture in mind. There's a vision, this is where we are headed. But then I also have a realistic understanding, or I've tried to develop by God's grace, a realistic understanding that I cannot get there today. I can't even get there tomorrow.
Maybe not even in the next six months, or even in the next six years. I have to take one day at a time. And each day I need to make one step Take one step in that direction. That's all I can do. One step In the right direction.
There may be some. Pitfalls along the way. There may be a little bit of a detour. I may take a left turn when I should have taken a right turn. Things may happen, but I should still keep trying to go in that direction.
Now, sometimes it may even happen that you will take two steps back. You may even make a wrong turn and find yourself at a backward position. It may happen. But the key is to regroup. See where your vision is.
And start moving in that direction from wherever you are. That's what I have learned over the years.
So In my life, Or in our church ministry with our team, it hasn't been a clear-cut, straight shot towards the goal, towards the vision. It has been ups and downs, left turns, right turns, sometimes wrong turns, sometimes detours, sometimes a U-turn. But ultimately, we made it in that direction. Each day, taking a positive step. Yeah.
Each day, something positive, something towards that goal.
Now, James gives us a great analogy. He tells us about a farmer.
Now, if you know anything about farmers, they have to be people of faith. They have to be people of vision. They have to be full of hope because a farmer, you know, you have this ground, you've tilled the ground, there's nothing there, you've sowed the seed.
Now you have to wait. Crop is not going to develop overnight. Yeah. You have to wait. I think about Ellie's grandparents.
Ellie's grandparents lived down, or they did. They're past now, but they lived down in the swamps of Swan Quarter and they had an enormous farm. And when I say they were patient people, in my mind, when I first met them, I just thought they were very slow, going, Hey, it's good to see you. Y'all come on out here. We're going to have some lunch.
And they've been walking all slow. I'd be like, come on, can we get to where we're going? But you're exactly right. That type of lifestyle just produces patience in you. You have to.
I mean, if you're sitting there waiting on crops to grow, if you're sitting there, you know, hoping for a harvest, you've got to be patient. You've got to live by faith and trust that the produce is going to be there. And you have to take into account there will be worms. You have to take into account there will be a drought. There may be a storm, a hurricane.
I mean, so many things can happen. This is all part of the deal. But If you persevere. there is a very good chance it's not foolproof because there could be a horrible drought and you would lose everything, but there is a very good chance that if you persevere, you will be able to harvest a great crop and and and Make ends meet. Yeah, absolutely.
You know, talking about patience, talking about this harvest that's coming, I think one of the things that's standing out to me, maybe you can kind of help me build out this thought and put it into perspective for the audience. But like James is saying, be patient because what's coming is worth being patient for. Right. This harvest that you're about to get. What does that look like in our lives?
Let's take a quick break. It's John here from Clearview Today. Before we jump in, quick shout out to today's sponsor, Mighty Muscadine. If you've been looking for a natural way to support your health, these guys are doing it right. From 100% Muscadine grape juice to really high quality supplements, everything they make is handcrafted.
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So I see it. In my personal life, number one character. Is my character going to grow? towards the end of that vision, that goal. If my character is not going to grow and my bank account is going to grow or my influence is going to grow or my power is going to grow, it means absolutely nothing.
If my character does not grow and become more and more like Jesus Christ, then it's a failed, it's a flawed. It's it's a worthless vision.
So I want to see that at the forefront. Character Am I becoming more like Christ? Character Am I more concerned with the things of God. Am I more focused upon the gospel? Do I care more about people?
then about projects. Because if I only care about a project and getting successful and getting this book published or this this show everywhere or this movie everywhere, but as a person I'm still not Christ-like. I'm not saying perfect, but Christ-like, then it's a failed endeavor. I'm headed towards the wrong goal.
So, character is number one for me. I want to be more like Christ. Yeah. Secondly, my relationships. My relationships with my family, my relationships with my work family.
How is it? Is it better? Have I made every effort possible to help them, to value them, to love them, to care for them? Do they feel that? Have I found ways to be a blessing to them, to help them achieve their goals?
To get to their desired end, have I done what I need to do to help people around me? That's second.
So character, of course. And then of course, relationships. And then of course you can add to it the gospel, which which should be there no matter what. Am I reaching more people with the gospel? And everything that I'm doing.
And this is not just in the context of church ministry. This can be in the context of your vocation. You may be a doctor, you may be a plumber, you may be an electrician, you may be a truck driver, you may be a law enforcement officer, you may be an engineer, whoever you are. In your context are you finding ways to share the gospel with other people? That's also part of the vision.
So yes, of course, we would like to have More impact through our radio ministry, our podcast, our YouTube. Yes. Write more books. Teach more lessons. Reach more people, see the church grow, all that is great.
But then there are other things as well: my character, my relationships with people, my influence with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All this is very, very important to me. I think that gives us a good trajectory to kind of assess where our lives are and where we're headed. How are we handling things? How are we navigating different situations in life?
Character, relationships, and the gospel. And those should be our three-pronged path forward. Right. And I think what you're saying too is that you can apply it to your vocation. I think, especially for me, I see it a lot with our impact, like you said, with this radio show and with the listenership.
It's like, yes, we celebrate these big wins, but one thing that you've been teaching me, and one thing that our social media team has been teaching me, too, is to celebrate the small wins. There are times where they'll come up to you and say, you know, this last sermon got like 2,000 views on YouTube. And in my mind, I'm thinking there's. They're sermons with millions. They're sermons with billions.
And I don't want to be that way because I see that we're counting these 2,000 people. That's 2,000 people that probably would not have heard here. And so I've been learning slowly and patiently to count those small wins. And it's. It's crazy how God will use that to slowly build patience in you over time.
Right. Yeah. And godly character, more Christ-likeness. Jesus Christ was patient. Think about the disciples that he had around him.
They were not easy to work with. No, not at all. They're a rough group. Yeah, it's a motley crew. You have a hot-headed fisherman.
You had two brothers who wanted to call down fire from heaven. You had Andrew, sort of melancholic. You had, of course, you had Judas Iscariot, a betrayer, right in the midst of it. You had Simon the zealot. You had all kinds of people.
You had Nathaniel, I believe, he was also a disciple, right? He was always doubting. He was not quite sure about Jesus at first. Thomas, the doubter, right? I mean, you know, people try to clean up his reputation, but yeah, he was a doubter.
Yeah. So imagine all these people, and Jesus very patiently worked with them, didn't abandon them. corrected them when he needed to correct them. Because I think that's also part of ministry of growth to help correct people because you can if you sugarcoat it too much Then You're not doing the people any favor. You're actually telling them, hey, it doesn't really matter.
Let's take another couple of years to get our act together. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And it's like. You don't do anybody any favors by doing that.
Right. I'd rather say sternly, hey, this here, it needs to be fixed. Let's get our act together here because you are so good.
So good. But here you're undermining your own self. And same with me. I want y'all to tell me. It's like, hey, you're doing a great job.
Your exegesis of the text is phenomenal, but your application here was weak. Or your application was great. We just didn't know how you reached that application. Yeah. You know, I need to know.
Well, you do, you do frame that in a really great way because I've never once been corrected on something that I was doing where it was like, hey, I don't know what in the world you're thinking here. It's always that what you're doing is too good to undermine. Yeah. And that really truly makes a difference. You know, talking about Jesus dealing with difficult people.
I haven't dealt with very many super difficult people, but the people that I have dealt with have just been especially difficult. And it's just made me more, it just makes me more frustrated. Do you find as a pastor, I know you've been pastoring for 30 years, you've dealt with your fair share of difficult people. Has it made you more patient or do you feel like it's made you less patient? Like, just having to say, okay, I've learned from these difficult situations, it has made me a more patient pastor.
For me, it has helped. It has challenged my understanding of people.
So, years ago, if you had asked me 10 years ago, what do you think about this situation or what do you think people are up to? I would have given you a good reason. It was a very reasonable reason. Over the years. Having gone through some of those situations and understood more about.
Humanity the way God has made us. And how God interacts with us. I have understood myself better. I'm still a mystery to my own self. I don't know why I am the way I am because we don't even know ourselves.
You know, they say, know thyself. No, you can't know yourself. That's why you need Christ. That's right. He knows you better than you know yourself.
But The more you grow, the better you see yourself, and now you can better see others. It's like that. Yeah. The better you understand God, the better you'll understand yourself, and the better you understand yourself, the better you'll understand people around you.
So it still works. Over the years. I have grown. In my understanding of God. In the process.
in my self understanding, In the process Understanding of other people, what makes them tick? What What is it that they value? What is important to them? What are their hurts, what are what is their past? Not that I sit here and psychoanalyze every person who comes into my life, into my circle of influence, but what what is it that makes them who they are?
What motivates them?
Sometimes we think, oh, just a praise will motivate them.
Sometimes, yeah.
Sometimes a praise will just set them right in their own ways and they will keep doing what they're doing. Yeah. Because you're praising me. I don't feel anything wrong. Right.
Yeah. It doesn't motivate them, it just stagnates them. It stagnates them. I must be good. I'm just chill here.
Yeah, but you know, that's what you did wrong. But I'll tell you what, you're super. All you hear is like, I'm super. Or maybe you hear the negative. If you're like me, you'll be like, wait a minute, forget about the super.
What did you say in that first part? Yeah, I'm kind of like that too. That's usually what I latch out too. I'm like, you said something, but then let's focus on this. It's like, but where it's like, other than that 1% you did wrong, the 99%, I would have that in everybody.
I don't care about that. Let's talk about the 1%. Wondering about that 1%. Yep, 100%. What was that first thing you said?
Let's circle back to that. Yeah, I'm sending like text messages, emails. I just want to check back in about that. But so understanding people better helps is part of that patience process to go, okay, I think this person is like this, and this is what they value. And so they're doing this, they're doing a great job, but I need to.
Move them. To go this way, I need to be moved too. I'm not by any means arrived as the grand coupon of everything, sitting back. I know everybody knows. I need help too.
So, Dr. Shaw, we're talking about patience, right? How to manifest patience in our own lives. But people are listening to the show and they say, you know, I don't really think that I have a problem with patience. Or maybe they're more like me and they're like, I don't know if I'll ever really get the hang of this.
What do we do? How do we actually manifest it?
So, James has a lot to say about patience. And I'm going to read this passage from James chapter 5, verse 7 and 8. He says, Therefore, be patient, brethren. Until the coming of the Lord. Means as long as we live in this life, in this world, we will have to learn.
be patient. We'll have to wait. And when is Jesus coming back? Who knows? Who knows?
We don't know when he's coming. We don't know the day or the time. He will come. Often people confuse the signs that are given, the prophecies that are given in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. They are about the tribulation period.
Now, maybe you're already categorizing me as where I stand. Am I pre-trib, prost-trib? I lean towards pre-trib. But let's say we're post-trip, okay? Whatever.
But either way There will be a tribulation period. A lot of those signs and those prophecies are about the tribulation period, whether we are here for it or not.
So, what do you think? I personally don't want to be here when tribulation happens. Yeah, that's not something people look forward to. I want to lean pre-trib. But if we have to go through tribulation, God will still keep the church and Israel distinct.
He will keep the church and the Jewish people distinct. If not, we'll be out of here. And then, of course, God's going to work with Israel like He. Said he was refining them, purifying them, and using them as powerful evangelists to touch the whole world. That's going to happen.
Nonetheless, we do not know when Christ is coming. We don't know when he's returning.
So, how long should we be patient? Until he comes. Yeah. Until he comes, and that's whenever, that may be tonight, or that may be. A thousand years from now.
You know, I think it's funny because it's one of those things that we can't know. And so it sort of like forces you to be patient, right? Like whether I want to be patient for Christ to return or not, it doesn't really matter. I have to. It is sort of different because typically we're waiting for something and there is a definitive date or a definitive time in the process.
Like you wait for dinner or you wait for a trip coming up or you wait for someone to come visit. But this is you're waiting. Until I think it's funny because some of the things, and maybe you can speak on this too, Dr. Shub, but maybe some of the things that force us to be patient are some of the greatest teachers, right? Like finding out about your health, finding out how your life is going to turn out.
These things that I really don't have any immediate control over. I just have no choice but to be patient. Just like a farmer. Yeah. And James uses that analogy here of a farmer.
He says, See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
So he's telling us about two rains. Or rainfalls that the farmer has to wait upon. The early rain, this is the rain, and we're talking about the region of Palestine, which we know again, got nothing to do with the Palestinian and all that stuff. This is what the region was known as in Roman times.
So during that time period when James is writing, What the land we know today as the modern nation of Israel. Still has early rain, this is the rain that falls in October and November. It would it it breaks the stifling heat of the summer. And it helps the seed to germinate.
So you plow the ground, All right. And you Sow the seeds. And now you're waiting for for water to fall from the sky. to break the heat of the summer. And then After this point There is winter.
There's a period of dormancy. It just seems like there's nothing happening.
So imagine that. All of a sudden, it's cold season. it's it's going to be sort of Dismal. and the farmer has to believe In his mind, in his heart, that that seed that is lying inside the dirt, under the dirt, is going to one day break open And there's life inside. And this green shoot is going to come out of that that seed And climb up through the dirt.
And come outside.
Now imagine how much Faith it takes to go, I know I plowed the ground. I have sowed the seeds. Where are the seeds? I don't see them. They're in the ground.
What are we waiting on? We're waiting on the rain. Has there been much rain?
Well, there has been enough to, you know, help the seed germinate.
So, do you think it'll happen? I don't know.
Now, I want our listeners and our viewers to stop and think about their life. You are praying for some loved one. Ye have sowed the seed of the gospel of the truth in their lives. And The early rain has come. Maybe the early rain came when they were five years old, or 15 years old, or 25 years old.
The early rain has come. Mm-hmm. But still, it's a period of dormancy. You're not seeing the green shoot come out of the ground. But you have to believe that it's in there and God in his timing.
Is going to germinate that seed. That's right. You maybe you can talk about this too because people are praying for that loved one. They're praying that my mom, my dad, my best friend, whoever it is, is going to come to Christ. And I know the seed's been planted, but it feels like failure if I don't see it.
And I know you've talked about this too: you're waiting on fruits, and it may be the case that you never see the fruits come to fruition. Those fruits may be for some other generation. That's right. Kind of talk about that. Like, what happens if my patience isn't rewarded the way I want it to be?
Well, see, right here, James talks about the latter rain. The latter rain is usually the rain that falls sometime between April and May. And this is the rain that's going to help the plant to mature and grow.
So, the farmer has to wait for the early and the latter rain. Early rain enough to germinate the seed, but it's a latter rain that will help it grow. You may be there for the early rain, you may not be there for the latter rain. Yeah. You may not be there to see the fruits of your labor.
You may not be there to see your grandchildren. Yeah. Growing up. And Standing for the gospel, for the truth of the Bible, for Jesus Christ, you may not be able to see that. But it will happen.
It will happen. And I know we're talking about in the context of just family and relationships. It can also be in the context of the church. Yeah. We're building a church here.
Of course, God is the one building. We're simply vessels, we're simply instruments in His hands, but we are doing everything in His power. By Organizing a church by leading worship Sunday after Sunday, by preparing biblical. Speard failed. Applicable messages week after week.
Leading young people, leading the students' ministry, the student music, all the videos that we're putting together, all the social media posts that are out there. We're doing all these things.
Sometimes we see immediate results. We see people talking about the message or the worship or the play or the post, and they go, Wow, that's amazing, man. I was so amazing. And we get 19 shares. It's like, we did all that work for 19 shares.
Yeah. That's it. You're talking straight out of my mind right now. Yeah. We did all this work and it's like 2,000 views.
And hours and hours have been spent studying, praying, researching, putting together, and then preaching it. tirelessly. 2000 views. What you and I don't see is the latter rain that's gonna come. That's rain.
It's gonna take it from 2,000 to 2 million. And it's going to happen. And we have to have the faith, the patience to trust God's timing. Just like. The farmer.
That's right. Amen. And we're going to talk more about how to do that on the next episode, but. You're going to have to be patient. Yeah, you're just going to have to wait.
You're going to have to be patient. We're going to help you practice patience. Especially because you're hearing this on a Friday right now. That means you got a whole weekend to wait. But don't worry, it's coming at you.
That's right. Hey, thank you for listening for joining us for the Clear Read Today Show. If today was your first time listening to the show, we'd love to get to know you. Welcome to our Clear Read Today Show family. Yes.
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