But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience… – Galatians 5:22a CEB
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance… – same vs. NIV
But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently. – Romans 8:25 NCV
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.– Colossians 3:12 NLT
A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.- Proverbs 15:18 NIV
Love is patient… 1 Corinthians 13:4 various
This is our thirteenth time featuring the writing of Chris Hendrix at Devotions by Chris. You can learn more about his story through his About page which you can link to through the link in the blog’s title, or the one in the devotional title which follows.
The Fruit Of Patience
One of the Fruits of the Spirit that we don’t like to talk about is patience. We like to talk about love, joy, peace and kindness, but we tend to forget about patience being one. Have you ever thought about the fruit that patience and impatience yield in our life? When we’re impatient things escalate and complications arise. Our vision of the future gets clouded and we make dumb decisions. Impatience also comes with negative feelings that create negative behaviors for which we have to apologize.
However, patience yields a different crop in our life. By being patient, we develop endurance and resilience. We Also build up future success because we learn to have delayed gratification. Finally patience creates better relationships. Would you rather be around an impulsive and impatient person or a calm patient one?
There were plenty of people in the Bible who were impatient.
■ Think,of King Saul who couldn’t wait for Samuel to do the sacrifice. His impatience cost him the kingdom.
■ Abraham and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God’s promise of a son and created a work around. That decision is still causing wars to this day.
■ Also, the Israelites got tired of waiting for Moses to come down the mountain and created a golden calf causing God’s anger to fall on them.
Even though we have these examples, we also have examples of patience.
■ Look at Job. He was patient through his trials and God restored everything he lost and then some.
■ David patiently waited to be king even while running for his life. He became the most famous king of Israel.
■ There was also Hannah who was barren. She continued to pray year after year and God answer with a son named Samuel.
Psalm 40:1 says, “I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry” (TPT).
What crop do you want to grow in your life? Both patience and impatience create long lasting results. A moment of impatience can cause a lifetime of sorrow. If God hasn’t answered yet, keep praying and believing. If you’re waiting on God to fulfill His promise, don’t jump the gun. He will do it in His time, not yours. I know the clock may be ticking, but switch your focus from the humdrum of the ticks and tocks to His Word. Watching the time yields the fruits of impatience, while His Word reminds us of His character. Let the fruit of patience grow in your life as you wait for God to come through.
The key verse in today’s devotional reminded me of a song which we first featured here back in 2010. This is from the Psalms Alive project by Maranatha! Music.
I waited for the Lord on high
I waited and He heard my cry
He pulled me out of my despair
He showed me where to walk
From fear into security
From quicksand to a rock
There’s a new song in my heart to sing
A new song praises to my King
I’ll sing to let the people know
That I have been restored
And they will kneel and understand
To return and trust in the Lord
by Bill Batstone © 1982 Maranatha Praise, Inc. (Admin. by Maranatha! Music)
Christianity 201 