The Virtue Of Patience

Living in an era of technological advancements, most people no longer have the heart to wait. Things are being developed which suit the needs of our rushaholic society. Sadly, the church of God has become a "rushaholic" as well. We rush through life with zero patience. 

God has a plan and purpose for our life, but He allows us to determine the steps to take. However, we are to exercise patience as we gradually progress towards the fulfillment of our purpose.   

Patience is a key requirement of God. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit which Paul listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Without patience, no body can please God nor become like Him. 

What is patience?

"Patience" implies suffering, enduring or waiting, as a determination of the will and not simply under necessity. As such it is an essential Christian virtue to be exercised of which there are many exhortations. We need to "wait patiently" for God, to endure uncomplainingly the various forms of sufferings, wrongs and evils that we meet with, and to bear patiently injustices which we cannot remedy and provocations we cannot remove.

Like the other fruit of the Spirit, patience needs to be cultivated. It is a virtue that every believer have in possession. However, as simple as it sounds it is not easy to be exercised. There are certain situations that we might find ourselves in, and the heat of it will make it so unbearable to exhibit patience. Nonetheless, there is a great reward that awaits us if we are able exercise patience. 

Patience helps us to gain understanding in matters

Whoever is patient has great understanding,but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.
Proverbs 14:29 - NIV

As said earlier, God requires our patience as a key factor to work on our behalf. Due to our rushaholic behavior, we become impatient when God seems to tarry in releasing the answer we seek from Him; causing us to take a step ahead of God and miss His very best for us. By exercising patience in our discomfort situations, we will be able to understand what God is up to and His will in that situation. 

Missing out God's plan for your life Because of impatience

God is always up to something big for us behind the scene even though we don't see it. It is said that the delays of God is not His denial. God at times allows to go through the waiting period as a test of obedience to bring about His blessings. But for some of us, our lack of patience cause us to fail the test and miss out God's blessings. 

Saul, the king of Israel should have received his greatest reward ever from God. But his impatient costed him tremendously. 1 Samuel 13 tells the story of when Israel was besieged by the Philistines. Samuel the prophet told Saul to wait for him seven days and he will come to him to perform the necessary burnt offering to the Lord for battle. But things turned upside down. Samuel didn't show up on the seventh day, forcing Saul to take a step ahead of God. When Saul saw that Samuel wasn't coming. He took the matter into his hands by performing the duties of Samuel, as the priest and prophet of God. 

This act of impatient caused him to fail God's test, which brought the collapse of his Kingdom. 

 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.

 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.

1 Samuel 13:13-14

Had Saul been able to patiently wait upon Samuel though all odds were against him, his kingdom would have been established forever in Israel. That blessing was endowed upon David as the next anointed king of Israel.

Love is incomplete without patience 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 - NIV

A lot of relationships are destroyed for lack of patience. Simply by saying that you love a person or that you are loved by them does not guarantee a successful relationship. Sorry to say it but you will find out that a person does not truly love you by their lack of patience to endure the temporal struggle in the relationship (friendship, courtship, and marriage). The Bible says that "Love" is patient. in other words, our exhibition of patience is the demonstration of our love. 

God demonstrates His love to us by His extreme patience towards us as in 2 Peter 3. His patience is His long-suffering. Though we wrong Him all the time, He is always slow to anger. He does not act in His anger. In this, He is very patient towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all will come into repentance.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2 - NIV

We can bear with one another in the midst of misunderstandings when we exercise patience. At times out of no where, the person we dream to join the knot with all of a sudden changes and becomes so foreign to us. But with patient we will be able to understand their behavior and the cause of it, without giving up on them. When God sees our patience even though we have every reason to quit but stays. He stands on our patience to fix anything that needs to be fixed. 

Patience is very essential in our walk with God. So as children of God let us cultivate this virtue.