More Patience - I Need It!

Is patience becoming extinct these days? What does this fruit of the Spirit tell us about ourselves and our Heavenly Father, who commands us to be longsuffering?

What is long-suffering? 

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Patience is a virtue.” If you’re like me, you may have even used the phrases “I’m running out of patience” and “I have no patience for the likes of you!”

Few of us use the synonym of patience that the New King James Version uses in Galatians 5:22 in the list of the fruit of the Spirit: long-suffering. Fewer still would consider that a virtue! We don’t want to wait, and we certainly don’t want to suffer!

From walking, to horse-drawn carriage, to automobile, to jet plane, technological progress reflects our desire for speed and our growing impatience. Long-suffering, or patience, is in short supply in this world, especially now that people get frustrated if their mobile devices take five seconds to load the Internet instead of three seconds. This trend has also, undoubtedly, affected our relationships and attitudes. How could it not?

Part of Ephesians 4:2 says “with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love.” This verse connects long-suffering with patiently working with others even when it is not entirely pleasant for us.

A section of Colossians 3:12-13 uses the same language but adds another component. We’re told to put on “longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” This passage tells us that longsuffering is closely related to forgiveness. Both of these scriptures are from sections that detail how the “new man,” full of the Holy Spirit, should act.

What is long-suffering? It is the godly patience and mercy we need to show to others that mirrors as closely as possible the patience and mercy God shows to us. It is when we bear with others, put up with their mistakes and inconsiderate actions and truly forgive them for real or imagined offenses against us. It is enduring trials and waiting patiently and faithfully for God’s intervention.

As with all the other fruit of the Spirit, God wants us to be like Him. God cares for all humanity; and He does it with tremendous compassion, mercy and long-suffering. God’s people are in training to become kings and priests to rule with Him in the future (Revelation 1:6), and this involves learning to forgive others, to show mercy and to be forbearing—or else we would be just like the worldly leaders of today.

Psalm 130:7 states: “O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.”

God set the example of mercy and redemption. God patiently waits (and has waited) for us to repent and to stop destroying ourselves. God desires that we turn to Him, and when we do, He even promises to help us overcome.

It can be a slow and frustrating process to go from selfish human nature (what the Bible calls the “old man”) to a new creation in Christ, but God lovingly guides us and helps us with amazing patience. And He wants us to become like Him and show the same patience to others.

Luke 17:3-4 gives us an example of what this looks like in everyday life: “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

This takes long-suffering! This passage makes no excuses one way or the other. Sin should not be tolerated and should be pointed out when it is our responsibility to do so. Yet even repeated sin must be patiently forgiven, even if it happens seven times in one day! This is what God does, and this is what He wants us to do.

Why? If we don’t learn to demonstrate godly patience and forgiveness, God is not going to forgive our offenses against Him (Matthew 6:14-15).

So how do we make sure we have this fruit overflowing in our lives?

We should write down the name of anyone we have a grudge against or have not truly forgiven, and then we should write down the reasons we have not been long-suffering with this person. Are these valid reasons according to the Bible? What do we need to do to forgive the person?

Calmly think about things said and done to us, rather than reacting rashly. 

One of the hardest areas to control in respect to long-suffering is our strong desire to let our tongues run free.

Whenever we’re offended or “sinned against,” we must remember to react in a way that we would want God to react to our sins.

Christ-Followers must be known by their patience—their patience with God’s timetable and plan for them and, especially, their patience with other human beings. Let’s show the rest of the world the long-suffering and forbearance God has with us.

Be Blessed and be a Blessing!