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Have Patience The Bible teaches that, among others, patience is a fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22). Most individuals are impatient to one degree or another. Why? Well, Consider today’s fast paced culture. We’re conditioned to some extent to be impatient. We have Fast food, microwaves, drive-thrus, credit cards or credit buying – why wait, buy now and pay later. Ours is a fast paced society – always on the rush. We have terms like Rush-hour, Instant Coffee and minute rice. In our society we’re taught the fast way is the better way. We also have cell phones, email, pagers and online chat or instant messaging. No more having to walk to the phone booth or taking pen to paper to write except if one wants to. Since The Bible teaches that patience is the fruit of the spirit it then and implication is that impatience is a fruit of our sinful nature. Patience is a developed spiritual quality and not one we humans are born with instinctively. In Roman 15: 5 God is identified as the "God of Patience". Hence it is god who gives us patience. Patience is a self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate against a wrong. Patience is the ability to accept delay or disappointment graciously. Patience is a quality by which we bravely endure a situation or when we delay exercising our wrath/rights Patience is a calm endurance based on the certain faith and knowledge that God is in Control. Having patience has its advantages. Can you think of a time where a lack of patience led to and argument or misunderstanding? Proverbs 15:18 (NIV) says that "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel." The following is a paramount example of possessing patience. Many of us have heard the expression "he has the patience of Job" What does that mean. In the opening chapter of Job we see that God has given job great wealth, livestock. He had sons and daughters and had great honor within the land. Then in a single today chaos happens. Job loses everything. He loses his wealth, his livestock, his children, and his servant. Now the times when we tend to be most impatient is when we go through a time of trouble or trial that we have no control over or can do nothing about and we really want it to come to an end. How did job endure? What was his response to his gut wrenching losses? Job responded as follows in Job 1:21(NKJ): "Naked I came from my mothers womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord" Job goes on to even loose his good health. He contracted painful boils from head to toe. Here’s where some of us might lose our patience with the situation as Job’s wife did. In Job 2:9 she told him to "curse god and die". But what did the patience of Job display. In 2:10 Job responded with this: "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" Then it goes on to say "In all this Job did not sin with his lips." What Patience! Lack of patience can be disastrous. Recall Abraham’s situation when both he and Sarah were getting advanced in years and failed to wait on God’s promise for son. So as human nature will tend to do instead of waiting on God we take matters into our own hands. And often the results are disastrous. In Abraham case he took matters into his own hands and went into his maidservant Hagar and had a son with her instead of waiting until the time the Lord brought Isaac into the world. Now look at the explosive situation we have today between some of descendants of Isaac and Ishmael - all due to a lack of Patience or failing to wait on the Lord. Christians are exhorted in several places in scripture to be patient: 1 Thess 5:14 says "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all." James 5: 7-8 says "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." Let’s have patience! |
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