Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law.
Patience
is not something at which we as humans particularly excel. No doubt like me you
recall your parents reiterating to you time and again, “Patience is a virtue.”
And indeed, patience is a virtue – just not one that we practice well.
The
reason for our failure originates with our first parents. Rather than entrust
themselves to their Creator, knowing that in time He would give them all they
could ever need or desire, our first parents impatiently grabbed at joy and blessing.
Believing that they knew best, they ate the fruit that God had restricted and
brought upon themselves and all their posterity toil, hardship, misery –
challenges that would demand even more of the virtue of patience.
Unfortunately,
we have followed in their steps ever since. Like them we grab for things before
their time; repeatedly pluck the fruit before it is ripe. As children, we are
impatient: we scream and cry when things don’t go our way, we pout and fuss and
whine. As youth, we are impatient: we grab for the privileges of adulthood
while shunning its responsibilities. As singles, we are impatient: we lust for
the intimacy of the marriage bed and fail to wait for God to provide us with a
spouse. As parents, we are impatient: we expect our children to be perfect when
we ourselves are far from the same. As churches, we are impatient: we endeavor
to increase our attendance while failing to disciple our congregations. As a
nation, we are impatient: we want economic prosperity by government decree
rather than through dint of hard work, steady plodding, and genuine
productivity.
The root
cause of all this impatience – ours and our first parents’ – is idolatry - we
do not trust God and so we grasp for what He has not yet given in fear that He
won’t give it. And our impatience brings upon ourselves and our children toil,
hardship, misery – challenges that God puts in our way to teach us even more to
be patient.
Contrast
our impatience with the character of our Creator: He has shown Himself
longsuffering and patient again and again and again. When our first parents
transgressed against Him, He covered them in clothing and promised to provide a
Redeemer. When our fathers sold their brother Joseph into prison, God used
Joseph to rescue them from destruction. When our fathers were enslaved in
Egypt, God raised up Moses and delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh. When
our fathers rebelled against God in the wilderness and tempted Him at the
waters of Meribah, God forgave the guilt of their sin and continued to lead
them. When our fathers constructed a golden calf and bowed down to worship it,
God forgave them, gave them His law, and led them to the Promised Land. And
though all of us have sinned repeatedly against our Creator, shunning His law,
despising His image in our fellow man, He sent His Son Jesus to die for us and
cover our sin. God is patient. And it is His patience that enables Him not only
to rescue us from our sinful impatience but to teach us, by the power of the
Spirit, to grow in the virtue of patience.
And so
reminded of our impatience and the way in which it contrasts so forcibly with
the patience of our Creator and Redeemer, let us kneel and confess our sin to
Him.
Our God
and Father,
You have
been and continue to be patient with us. Your patience is shown most in the
Person of Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus, who gave Himself for us –
sinful, impatient sinners – in order that He might make us into a new people by
the power of the Spirit. Forgive us our impatience and renew us by Your Spirit.
Amen.
