Emmett
Murphy
Photo courtesy Emmett Murphy
Emmett
Murphy
Photo courtesy Emmett Murphy“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” —Galatians 5:22-23
Ask my wife which one of the fruits of the Spirit shines in my life and you will not hear her say patience, though she will admit that I’m doing better now in my old age.
Patience is a virtue until we have to experience it in our own life. There are people who have faithfully attended church for many years, have been baptized, and have heard hundreds of sermons, yet have not understood how to live the Christian life.
Patience can be defined in several ways: having the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or suffering without being annoyed or anxious; calmness; endurance; forbearance. Patience is evidence of an inner strength. Patience is a person’s ability to wait something out or endure something tedious without getting riled up.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that running red lights (to get someplace a minute sooner!) kills more than 800 people every year, injures a quarter of a million people, and racks up an estimated $7 billion in property damage, medical bills, lost productivity and insurance cost hikes. You might remember this the next time you are tempted to run that yellow light that has been on several seconds.
Patience is not something that many people have and it is easy to see why. We are a society that is in a hurry from everything. People want instant gratification in every area of life and we are not willing to wait the slightest amount of time.
A man’s car stalled in heavy traffic just as the light turned green. All his efforts to get the car started failed, and a chorus of honking horns behind him made matters worse. He finally walked back to the first driver behind him and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to get my car started. If you will go up there and give it a try I’ll stay here and honk your horn for you.”
Impatience often leads to mistakes. If God delays in answering our prayer we assume we can go ahead with our plans since He didn’t answer. At times we may manipulate Scripture to get the answer we want. We search through scripture until we find a verse that we think supports our needs.
There are times when we must make decisions and don’t know what to do. Yet we are reluctant to delay the decision and want God to act on our timetable. David wrote in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” In Psalm 37:7 he says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.”
When we give our lives to Christ, we not only receive the gift of eternal life in the future, but we receive some wonderful gifts from God now. Patience is one of those gifts.
What do we need in order to live a patient life? We need faith in God that He will guide us as He has promised to do. He has given us His Spirit of truth to guide us through the ups and downs of life. But when we don’t listen to Him we can make a real mess of our life.
Sometimes it takes courage to obey God and patiently wait for Him to direct our ways. Running ahead of God often leads to an outcome we don’t want.
As Christians we have a unique opportunity to be different than the world by being patient when the world expects us to be impatient.
Job makes the point that one can be patient in the face of trials and tribulations. He lost 10 children, all of his herds and flocks, his house, and all he had left was a wife who suggested he curse God and die, and three friends who thought they were psychologists. But Job was patient.
God is good and good comes to those who wait patiently.
Emmett Murphy is a retired Christian church minister. He can be reached at epreach@aol.com.
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