The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  There is no law against those things.  Galatians 5:22-23

Patience…… 

How long can you wait for something?  How long can you be patient?

Christmas is coming.  Maybe you remember when you were a kid in school, looking forward to Christmas.  You were so eager to open your presents!  I remember seeing the presents start to appear under the tree about a week before Christmas.  I had to wait a whole week, every day, seeing them there, but I had to wait to open them.  It was hard to be patient!

You know, patience is unique in one way.  If you look at the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, etc., we want those gifts.  We want to love more, we want more joy and more peace.  But who wants more patience?  Many people don’t want patience.  They want everything now!

But the Holy Spirit teaches us to grow in patience.  This is a good blessing from God and we should desire it.  What does it mean that God wants us to be patient, and how are we patient?

There are quite a few Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible that can mean patience.  I’m only going to look at what Galatians 5 means.  This is teaching us two things about patience.

First, we are patient waiting for God to fulfill all His promises, including waiting for Jesus to come.  We want Him to come now, and we pray He comes soon.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Your kingdom come.”  But at the same time, we don’t know when He will come.  So we must be patient and wait for His time.

How do we learn this kind of patience?  We see that God’s promises are true.  Look in the Bible to see how God keeps His promises to His people.  There are many examples.  Here are just a few.

  • You remember God called Abraham to leave his family and travel to Canaan.  Abraham had no children, but God promised to give the land to Abraham and his descendants.  Abraham had to be patient and wait 25 years.  Then God did the same as He promised and He gave Abraham a son.
  • God saved His people from Egypt and gave them the promised land.  They had to wait 430 years, and then 40 years in the desert, but God did the same as He promised.
  • He punished Israel for their sin and sent them into Babylon, but then brought them back home the same as He said.
  • He sent His Son, Jesus, as our Savior, the same as He promised.

When we see how He has done everything He promised, then we can be patient and trust that Jesus will come and finish everything that God promised us.

Second, we are patient with each other.  This can be hard, because we disappoint and hurt each other.  When God tells us to be patient, that means we continue to love and forgive each other.  Don’t stop doing that.

How can we be patient with each other?  We see how God is patient with us.  Psalm 145:8 says, The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

I have learned patience from examining myself and seeing my sin and how God is patient with me and forgives me.  If I were in God’s place, I would have lost my patience a long time ago.  But God continues to love me, forgive me, and be patient with me.  That is amazing!  When I see that, I want to be patient with other people the same as God is patient with me.

God bless you to pay attention to God and see that He does all His promises, and to see how He is patient with you, so that you can grow in patience, waiting and trusting God to do what He promises for you, and for you to be patient with other people the same as God is patient with you.