By your endurance you will gain your lives.
(Luke 21:19)I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love.
(Ephesians 4:1-2)
Next on St. Paul’s list of spiritual fruits is patience.
There are two related aspects of this fruit of the Holy Spirit.
We’ll look at each in turn.
Our faith demands that we learn to be patient, to persevere, to endure.
Christ came among us, to a fallen and enslaved race, to destroy the work of the devil and to lead us to our true home, to life everlasting with God in heaven.
These are the most astonishing and exhilarating promises ever made to the human race.
We have begun to see their fulfillment in signs and shadows, but none of us have yet obtained what we so long for.
We are still on the near side of our physical death; we are still living in a world, under the influence of evil spirits; we are still locked in battle with the fleshly part of ourselves.
Paul elsewhere writes: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:22-25).
As joy and peace are the fruit of love, so this aspect of patience is the fruit of hope.
We need patience to run the race of life.
Do we find ourselves angered or depressed by the evil in the world?
Do we get discouraged by our constant failures, or by feeling stuck in a relationship or a work situation that isn’t working well?
Do we have a general feeling that our life isn’t going anywhere?
We need patience.
The promises of God are true, and he will have his way with us and with the world, absolutely and completely, in his own time.
The second aspect of patience is an attitude we bring to daily life.
A man with three young children once said, “Before I was married, I used to think I was a patient person.”
This was an insightful comment.
He could have said, “I am a patient man, but my children are driving me crazy and my wife is making me lose my temper.”
But he knew better; he realized that the cause of his impatience was within himself.
His wife and children only provided occasions for bringing it out.
Patience is a combination of humility and charity.
We are impatient because we are proud and selfish.
Consider these common thoughts: “My kids are always throwing a wrench in my plans,” and “That stupid driver is in my way!”
My way?
Who gave me a way through the world such that everyone needs to steer clear of me?
Our own concerns absorb us and we become impatient if what we have planned, devised, or hoped for doesn’t come about.
We need to take a strong drink of humility and remember that we are not the center of the world.
And when those around us behave badly, we need to “forbear in love,” being patient with them, remembering that others need to put up with us at least as much as we need to put up with them.
Consider in prayer these two aspects of the fruit of patience.
Where am I impatient with God?
Where am I impatient with those close to me?
Let’s bring these attitudes to the Lord, asking for his grace to dissolve what is fleshly in us, so that we might walk by the Spirit.
