READ: Galatians 5:16-24
We’ve all heard the prayer: “Lord, make me more patient—and do it now!”
Why is it that patience evaporates when we are late for a critical engagement and are caught in a traffic jam? Or we rush to the “10 items or less” line at the store, only to find someone in front of us with 16 items!
Being forced to wait ratchets up the stress and shortens our fuse. When that happens, we not only fail to be patient but we undercut the Spirit’s work in our lives.
Patience is not just a virtue, it’s a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22)—which means that demonstrations of impatience reveal the sour fruit of our fallen hearts rather than the sweetness of Jesus in our lives. Since God is a patient God, when we abandon patience we miss the opportunity to show our world the glory of God through our lives.
Bursts of impatience only demonstrate that we are more concerned with our own agendas than the needs and struggles of others. So let’s all take a deep breath and turn our focus away from ourselves by patiently loving others instead of ourselves in the midst of stress.
Patience gives us the privilege of sharing the refreshing fruit of God with others.
God’s perfect plan for us;
We must be patient and refuse
To fret, to fume, to fuss. —Sper
Bible in One Year: Isaiah 61–63; Proverbs 30:10-20
