What's Inside: “You have heard it said, ‘Patience is a virtue’. But I’ll tell you this; patience is evidence
of the Holy Spirit residing in us. It is a way of life” (- Me). Patience is a quality that everybody needs yet
nobody wants to have. We have patience within us by way of the Holy Spirit, but
we must be intentional about developing that “muscles”.
What is patience and why is it such an integral part of our
lives? We cannot exist without patience. It is a commodity, it is inevitable,
everybody has to have patience. Why is that?
1. In this world we will have trials (John 16:3). Because
challenges of any degree are inevitable, patience is a must so that we can face
them:
And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience,
experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us
(Romans 5:3-5 NKJV).
But do not forget this one thing,
dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)
There is a time for everything, and a
season for every activity under the heavens… a time to plant and a time to
uproot…a time to tear down and a time to build…a time to scatter stones and a
time to gather them…a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and
a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend... (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
3. God is in the business of shaping us:
See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have
tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do
this. (Isaiah 48:10-11)
In
all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven
genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even
though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ
is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7).
This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them
like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will
answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ ” (Zachariah 13:9)
For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You
brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over
our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of
abundance (Psalm 66:10-12).
4. We do not control everything:
I
planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. (1
Corinthians 3:6)
5. We all live at our own pace and we
all have to coexist.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
PATIENCE
An interesting thing this thing called patience. It appears
to have two angles – passive and active. Dictionary.com defines patience as:
The bearing of provocation,
annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without
complaint, loss of temper,
irritation, or the like.
And, an ability or willingness to suppress
restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay”.
My favorite definition of patience is “waiting without
complaining”.
As I began searching for my go-to scriptures on patience,
I found that the wording is different from what I had memorized in my younger
days. Newer editions and translations of the Bible now use the word perseverance in lieu of the word patience. Interesting. If I’m not
mistaking, the words perseverance and patience in the English language convey
two very different perceptions even though they mean the same thing. Many would
agree with me that persevere is an active word and patience is perceived to be
more passive. So why would the publishers of these newer Bible translations choose
to use perseverance in lieu of patience? They must believe that the application
of the word patience that we should
embrace is not the docile behavior that we’ve adopted.
The Greek word for patience as used in Romans 5:3, James
1:3-4 and many other verses, translates to: steadfastness, steadfast waiting
for constancy, endurance, a patient enduring, sustaining, perseverance.
The origin word translates to: to remain – to tarry behind;
to remain i.e. abide, not recede or flee; to preserve: under misfortunes and
trials to hold fast to one's faith in Christ; to endure, bear bravely and
calmly: ill treatments.
One hand, I see the word patience as waiting around and
being still. On the other hand, I see the word patience as proactive – a continuance
against resistance. I imagine a lone person in a desert sand storm. The wind is
just strong enough that the person will get blown off of his feet if he just
stands there…waiting. If, however, the person separate her feet, bends his
knees and drops her hips slightly, he can put up enough resistance to sand
against that wind. If she keeps standing and even goes as far as to push
against that wind and walk as far and as long as he needs to get to his desired
destination (or at least until the wind stops) – that is patience. The Word of God calls us to persevere:
continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or
no prospect of success. Push through it.
PEACE BE STILL
As I mentioned earlier, my favorite application of patience
is waiting without complaining. We have to be willing to be still in life.
Regular time just being still is healthy. In 1 Kings 19:9-13, God tells His
prophet, Elijah, that He was going to pass by. It seems to me that God knew Elijah needed a tangible encounter with
God because of the dire circumstance Elijah was facing for God’s sake. When
God told Elijah that He would pass by, there was an earthquake and then there
was a fire. Neither event was evidence of God’s arrival. When the prophet
Elijah heard the gentle and quiet whisper, He knew God had arrived. A stark
contrast is made by the earthquake and fire occurring before God showing up in
the gently quiet whisper. It asserts the importance of stillness and quiet. I
believe that spending time in quiet and waiting tunes our spirit to the gentle
Spirit of God. It trains us to recognize those moments He is present. We must
be willing to spend time waiting.
DANGERS OF PASSIVE
PATIENCE
There are times when we have to pause, slow down, take a
breadth, wait. As some familiar sayings go:
“Measure
twice cut once.”
“Haste makes waste.”
“The plans of the diligent lead to
profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).
I caution strongly, however, against waiting around for
blessings to fall when instead you should be working towards your goal:
“Those who work their land will
have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense” (Proverbs
12:11).
“Those who work their land will
have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of
poverty” (Proverbs 28:19).
I love the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Matthew
14:15-16:
As evening approached, the disciples came to him
and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the
crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go
away. You give them something to eat.”
This passage gives me pause. I wonder how many times in my
life I’ve waited patiently around for God to do something (cross my path with a
person who could change my life; steer me into my dream career; supernaturally
beam into my mind wisdom and knowledge to succeed in a new industry). All the while,
I could have done research, Google, ask questions and read books in addition to
praying for divine intervention. I could have benefited from engaging patience
as persevering rather than patience as waiting alone.
Patience is not solely about inactivity but about continuing
in doing what you know is right and doing it long and faithfully enough that
you will eventually see the results. “Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians
6:9). The question then becomes, do you believe
that the results are coming?
I pray this has been a blessing
so far. In two weeks we’ll take a closer look at patience in three key areas of
life: other people, the results and ourselves. Subscribe below and you will
know as soon as Part II is posted. Remember, we are so Spoiled By God.
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