Patience: Overcoming The Frenzied Life Series

When you see a patient person, you’ve seen something rare. For it takes supernatural power to be patient. We live in a world obsessed with speed. We become angry if the video doesn’t download immediately or the fast food lines take too long. And who likes waiting in a doctor’s office, or waiting two minutes on an elevator, or staring about at the walls inside the DMV all afternoon? Yes, we love our speed. Actress Carrie Fisher has said, “These days even instant gratification takes too long.” Of course, we speed everything up in our day. So we used to dial; now we speed dial. We used to read; now we speed read. We used to walk; now we speed walk. And of course, we used to date, and now we even speed date.

All men praise patience but few practice it. Many think it only takes willpower to be patient. No, it takes supernatural power to be patient. Today, I want to talk to you about how you can develop your patience.

A Desire to Change

By the way …. do you have a desire to change? Let me ask you, “What is the one thing you want said about you at your funeral?” “What epitaph would you want to place on your tombstone?” We’re in a summer teaching series devoted to bringing the change into our lives that we’ve always longed for. These nine virtues are the real signs the Spirit is in and with you. It’s a series devoted to advocating living life with the fruit of the Spirit: “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). When these traits are all present in your life, God says these are the traits that you’ve been supernaturally changed.

Today, I want to share with you the secret of patience and the secret of endurance. By a show of hands, are you by nature a patient person? If you were to assign a percentage to your level of patience, what would it be? Is anyone at 100% on the patience level? Let me encourage you today by saying this no one is born patient. For patience is a work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s discover how to become a patient person…

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” (James 5:1-11)

Do you know just important it is to be patient? The Bible tells us God gives His followers strength to be patient: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy…” (Colossians 1:11). And isn’t an inner strength needed to be patient?

It’s so easy to be impatient, but it takes supernatural power to be patient. Thinking of the importance of patience, one of the distinguishing characteristics of real love is this: “love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). And it is through patience that the Bible tells us that we will receive eternal life itself (Romans 2:7). Don’t underestimate patience for a minute. Against, the backdrop of economic injustice, today’s passage mentions some form of patience five times.

James tells us to “Be patient” in the early part of verse seven and again at the end of verse seven. He repeats the command to “Be patient” again in verse eight. He mentions “patience” again in verse ten before telling us to remain steadfast twice in verse eleven. To further push us toward patience, we are told to be patient like a farmer waits for his harvest. We are to think of the great prophets of the Old Testament who showed patience in the midst of suffering. And lastly, when we consider the practice of patience, we are to remain steadfast like Job, who suffered so. The reason James is so insistent on telling you the virtues of patience is he knows you’re going to need patience.