Do You Have Staying Power?

If we are willing to be patient until the grace of God is made manifest, whether it takes nine years or ninety, it will be worth the wait. - Rebecca Pippert(1)

This morning’s message will addresses the need to develop our staying power. As you might have guessed, this is a sermon on patience. Our English word “patience” is derived from the Latin word patior meaning, “to suffer,” and the primary sense of the word means, “continuance and holding out.”(2) In other words, patience is staying power. It’s the ability to hold out in the midst of suffering and adversity.

Here in America we live in a society where much of the waiting in life has been eliminated. There are drive-through restaurants, drive-through liquor and tobacco stores, drive-in churches, and - believe it or not - drive-through funeral parlors. You’ve likely grown accustomed to hearing such terms as “on demand” and “express mail.” It’s no wonder people have a difficult time being patient whenever life circumstances require a wait!

There can be no doubt it was an American who once prayed, “Lord, grant me patience, and I want it right now!”(3) Many people seem to fail miserably at life because they have little patience. Allow me to provide an example of how impatience resulted in one man’s forfeiture of great success:

The snack food known as Jell-O turned one hundred years old in 1997. In 1897 Pearl Wait, the founder of Jell-O, wore several hats. He was a construction worker who dabbled in patent medicines and sold his remedies door-to-door. In the midst of his tinkering, he hit on the idea of mixing fruit flavoring with granulated gelatin. His wife named it Jell-O and Wait had one more product to peddle.

Unfortunately, sales weren’t as strong as he’d hoped, so in 1899, Pearl Wait sold his Jell-O rights to Orator Woodward for $450. Woodward knew the value of marketing so within just eight brief years, Wait’s neighbor turned a $450 investment into a $1,000,000 business. Today, not a single relative of Pearl Wait receives royalties from the 1.1 million boxes of Jell-O that are sold each day.(4)

Pearl Wait wanted to become a rich man from his invention of Jell-O, but his impatience prevented him from reaping the rewards. He wanted quick success, and when that success didn’t arrive fast enough, he gave up. However, if he had just persevered for another eight years like Woodward, then perhaps he would have become a multimillionaire. What was Wait’s problem? The problem was that “Wait just couldn’t wait!”

There’s an old adage that says, “Good things come to those who wait.” Some believers just can’t wait, and that’s why they often experience failure whenever faced with trials, difficulties and times of spiritual dryness. They give up too soon because they lack staying power; and so, they miss out on many good things that God wanted them to have.

In our main text today, James speaks about the significance of patience. He provides some valuable insight into why believers sometimes fail at being patient, and he explains how to stay the course even when difficult life circumstances seem to go by at a snail’s pace.

Be Determined to Have Endurance (vv. 2-4)

The first thing that James taught believers was about their need to develop patience, and ultimately perseverance. He realized that patience is vital in maintaining the necessary faith to see the realization of God’s promises:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

The first insight we should note is how James emphasized “when” you fall into various trials; he didn’t say “if” you fall into trials. For example, God informed the prophet Isaiah, “I will be with you . . . when you walk through the fire” (Is 43:2). It is indeed a fact that we are going to face trials in life. The only thing God promises is that He will be “with” us during our trials. He doesn’t promise that the Christian life will be one of great ease.

We must come to realize that we will face trials; and though it’s not easy, we must be determined to persevere joyfully. We can be joyful in knowing that God will use our trials to mold our character and conform us to the image of His Son. Paul de Rapin said, “Strength often increases in proportion to the obstacles imposed upon it.”(5)

Trials will serve to make us “perfect” and “complete” in character (Jas 1:4), as James inferred. Once our character is molded, then we will be lacking nothing. I understand the phrase “lacking nothing” to mean that we will finally know how to wait on the Lord’s timing; and waiting on God’s timing will enable us to receive the fullness of life that God intends.