My foster son, Levi, who will turn two on Christmas Eve, is learning patience. When he asks for something but doesn’t get it right away, my wife says, “Show me patience.” Levi grows quiet, interlocks his fingers and holds his hands together close to his chest. Like two folding hands in prayer. At least that’s what I think about lately when I think about patience. A position and attitude of prayer, and waiting, and request.
Patience, Biblically, is a few things. First and foremost, patience is a character trait of God and a fruit of the Spirit. Patience is also a capacity to endure under the pressure of trials and tests. Under that pressure, patience interlocks and goes hand in hand with hope. Like Levi’s hands.
Patience, because it hopes, makes room for new possibilities today and tomorrow. Patience is a way of life. A way of living with hope; hope is a way of living with patience.
One who is hopeful in God doesn’t need to control events, hurry or be rushed, manipulate outcomes. They are at rest, because they trust God and submit to His will in everything. But, for this reason, patience is not for the weak of heart. Patience is strength. Not our strength, but God’s in us.
Without patience you will never know peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, unity, self-discipline, self-control, personal growth, creativity, compassion — A FUTURE. All these things take time to grow and develop. Patience makes room for the unexpected, for the new possibilities available in God. Patience is God doing His will, His way, in me, in His time. I fold my hands in prayer.
Patience doesn’t mean that I do nothing. Strength is energy and capacity to act. So God’s strength in us is energy and capacity, motivation and attitude, to act in a way that pleases and honors Him. And what pleases and honors Him is always for my good.
I know I am not being patient when:
- I want to micromanage my life and/or the life of others. It’s hard to micromanage when your hands are folded together. Most of us find it too constricting to keep our hands together in obedience to God trusting in Him. So we don’t. We stick our hands into everything. We grasp as much as we can with our fingers. Whether it’s trying to control our spouse’s or our children’s lives. Our work or the work of others. Whether it’s being in the know or making sure everybody else knows what we know. We seek control. But patience doesn’t micromanage.
- I am irritable. To be irritable could be a symptom of many different things, but it is always present where there is little to no patience. Rather than endure difficult circumstances and forbear with difficult people, we are quickly annoyed and critical. We are quick to judgement, which is always quick to appear where we are proud. We are slow to listen and give grace to others. We become impulsive and quick to lose our emotional self-control. But patience is self-awareness and self-control.
- I lose sight of the big picture. I focus on the immediate. I can’t wait 24 hrs to make a purchase. I feel hurried and rushed to act now. I react and text. I react and speak. I react and give in. I ignore wisdom and make a permanent decision in a temporary situation. Meaning, I do something permanent to get something temporary. But patience doesn’t lose sight of the big picture and the end goal.
As Christians, we are new creations in Christ. That means we are growing and maturing into something new: into the image of Jesus. We are putting off the old self and ways of living, in order to put on the new self and ways of living. Or, better yet, we are putting on the new, because we have been saved, rescued, and called out of the old.
Jesus exhibited patience. He was and is the perfect image, representation, radiance and glory of God. He showed utmost endurance and trust in His Father’s will. He demonstrated and lived perfect reliance on and submission to the Holy Spirit. Always keeping pace, always in step. He never lost fullnes of hope and always maintained fullness of joy in God. He never backed away from any measure of the truth, yet He never withheld any measure of His love.
He lived a life of “folded hands,” He showed patience in every way. He didn’t try to micromanage and control His own way. Rather, He prayed “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
He didn’t become irritable and bitter and unforgiving towards any of His accusers, enemies, or betrayers. He never lost sight of the eternal plan of salvation, and the abundant life therein, that was His alone to bring and to give. He patiently endured carrying the full weight of our sin and of the world to the cross. He never grumbled against God, not once, as He suffered in our place. He loved to the full and until the end, until He could say, “It is finished.”
Yet, out of His patient obedience even to the point of death, came His first breath as The Resurrection and The Life. The inhale of victory over sin and death and the exhale of new life forevermore.
Dear Elim Grace, “show me patience” when we’re not very patient means “show me Jesus.” To grow in patience, look to Jesus. It is no longer we who live, but Christ who now lives in us. So go, keep pace, and live patient lives in Christ, a life within which all things are possible in Him.