Chasing Patience June 23, 2014
We’veheard the joke, “I want patience Lord, and I want it right now.” Thatmakes it sound like a quality we can’t get. We’ve probably also heard,“Don’t pray for patience, or God will give you trials.” That makes itsound like a good quality that we don’t want. I do tend to pray forpatience for those who are in obvious trial. But how should we thinkabout patience?
Godhas a high view of patience. The word is used of the Father, the Son, theApostles, and believers. When Jesus speaks to his suffering andpersecuted churches he encourages them by recognizing their patience. James, Peter, Paul, John, and the writer of Hebrews all call us topatience.
Whatis patience? In Biblical usage the word is used to mean endurance,perseverance, and slowness in avenging wrongs. We can’t show patiencewhen everything is just as it should be; we show it when there is somethingwrong. A Christian may not look so different from an unbeliever whenthings are going well, but will look very different when things are goingbadly.
Howdo we exercise patience? God shows His patience by providing time forrepentance, a time that ends when Jesus returns. We look to the sameevent as being a motivation and the end point for our patience.
Howdo we grow in patience? By growing in the realization that this patienceis a temporary (albeit lifetime) need and that it is tied to the return ofJesus. We grow in the day-to-day work of patience, which even in the goodtimes we will have opportunity to display.
Patienceis not passivity or inaction; it is an aspect of strong varied actions that weare called to. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14 we are called to “admonish theidle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”
Patienceis a test of love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 we see that “Love is patient.” If we want to call what we do “love” but we don’t have patience, we areself-deceived.
Patienceis part of the cycle of our lives. In James 5:27 we see “Be patient,therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits forthe precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives theearly and the late rains.”
Weface situations in which our hard work, our money, our good ideas, and ourconnections can’t get us what we want. We need patience.