Instant messaging, instant meals, next day shipping, everything in life seems to be about instant gratification. We are not expected to wait for anything. I believe that it is these kinds of things that have resulted in a general lack of patience in our society. We get frustrated when we have to wait in line at the store. We are easily upset when there is a delay in traffic. If our pizza delivery guy is late, we vow to never order from that restaurant again.
When we look back at our verses that list the Fruit of the Spirit, we see that the next fruit is patience. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis mine) Patience is a virtue that many of us struggle with on a daily basis. Let's take a look at the importance of patience throughout the Bible.
In the Old Testament, we see many instances where God showed great patience with the children of Israel. God always gave them many chances to turn back to Him before He punished them. Each time they began to turn from Him, God patiently disciplined them and tried to direct them back to Himself.
In the same way, God pursued us to make us His children. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."(ESV) Many of us did not immediately answer when the Holy Spirit was working in our hearts to help us see our need for salvation or when God was calling us to serve Him in some way or another, but He patiently continued to work until we obeyed. And when we mess up and don't do the things that we know we should, God patiently chastises us and waits for us to repent and come back to Him. Isn't it amazing that such a holy God is so patient with us?
In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul instructs the church to
"admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." (verse 14) This should come as no surprise. If God is patient with us, why wouldn't He expect us to be patient with one another? There really should be no end to our patience with others. After all, when we are measured against God's holiness, we fall way short, yet God is patient with us when we fail. Why aren't we more patient with others when they mess up or get on our nerves?
Another verse in the Bible talks about waiting with patience. James 5:7-8 says, " Be patient, therefore, brothers,
until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious
fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." Here we see that we are supposed to be patiently waiting for the coming of the Lord. I think if we remember that this is the end goal, we might find it easier to be patient with everyday matters. A few extra minutes in line or on the road isn't anything worth getting bent out of shape over compared to what we are truly waiting for. Hebrews 6 talks about the promise God made so Abraham and how sure it was because it was made by God. Verse 15 says, "And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise." We need to take the example of Abraham and be patiently waiting for God's promise of Heaven to be fulfilled.
So my challenge to you today is to focus on patiently waiting for "the coming of the Lord." And while you are waiting, be patient with one another as well, remembering that God is patient with you and wants you to be like Him.
