Patience

INTRODUCTION

A young Christian went to an older Christian for help. “Will you please pray for me that I may be more patient?” he asked. So they knelt together and the old Christian began to pray. “Lord, send this young man tribulation in the morning, send this young man tribulation in the afternoon, and send this young man tribulation in the evening.” At that point, the young Christian blurted out, “No, no I did not ask for tribulation. I wanted you to pray for patience. “Ah,” responded the old Christian, “it’s through tribulation that we learn patience.

HF: We are going to see the definition of Patience. We will see why developing patience is difficult and we are also going to see how we can develop patience in our day-to-day life.

Definition of Patience

let me start by asking you a simple question, “What is patience?”

Let me give you some definitions of patience.

Definition 1: “Patience is self-restraint or self-control which does not hastily retaliate against a wrong.”

Proverbs 19:11 11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

 When someone does you wrong how do you respond? Fill in with an example.

Definition 2: “Patience is the ability to accept delay or disappointment graciously.”

How do you deal with delays? How do you deal with disappointment? Example.

For many of us dealing with delay and disappointment is tough but patience is the ability to accept it without getting upset.

Definition 3: “Patience is a powerful attribute that enables a person to remain steadfast under strain & continue pressing on.”

How do you respond to strain? Strain at the workplace, at your ministry, house, or relationships? When you are strained do you carry on or do you feel like quitting everything?

Maybe that is where some of you are today.

You are dealing with difficult circumstances.

You are raising a small child or you are caring for an old, aged parent.

Maybe you have a loved one who is ill and you have spent long hours of nursing and hospital bills on him.

Maybe you do not have a job, no money.

Maybe none in your family has been saved yet.

Maybe your marriage is getting delayed.

Yet patience is the quality that says “This too, will pass. It is almost over. I can keep going on.”

Definition 4: “Patience is calm endurance based on the certain knowledge that God is in control.”

ILLUSTRATION

I heard the story of an artist who went to visit an old friend. When he arrived she was weeping. He asked her why. She showed him a beautiful handkerchief that had great sentimental value but had been ruined by many spots of writing ink. The artist asked her to let him have the handkerchief which he returned to her by mail a few days later. When she opened the package she could hardly believe her eyes. The artist using the ink spots as a base had drawn on the handkerchief a design of great beauty. Now it was more beautiful and more valuable than ever.

Sometimes looking at the tragedies and incidents that break out in our life we feel everything is over, we feel it is the end of the road for us. But understand if you have patience and trust in God, these tragedies can become the basis for a more beautiful design in our lives.

Be patient over the hurts over which you have no control. Be patience over your circumstances and failures over which you have no control. In God’s hands, they will turn out to be a source of beauty.

Developing Patience is Difficult.

We all desire to be more patient but as the young Christian found out, it is not easy to develop patience.

1. Patience goes against basic human nature.

We are not born patients. As life passes on we learn to be more patient with life’s experiences.

ILLUSTRATION

When Sam & Grace were small babies they used to get hungry at midnight and wet their diapers at the night. Both of them never lay in the bed and thought “I know my Mom & Dad are tired. I will just wait until a more convenient time to let them know I am hungry or my diaper is wet.” No they used to cry and then scream impatiently and continue to cry until their demands are met.

Children are not very patient. Have you ever traveled with a child? This can be quite an experience.

ILLUSTRATION

A year back Glory, I, and our children drove to Kerala through Mysore. About 100 km after Mysore there is Bandipur Forest and the road goes right through the forest where we can see a lot of animals on the way, just open wildlife, a beautiful scene. Right from Bangalore Sam started asking when is the forest coming. We said after 4 hours. After 10 minutes he asked again when are we going to get into the forest? And he kept on asking until I finally had to tell him, “Sam we plan to go through the forest but you ask once more we will to change our route and you will never see the animals.” He kept quiet for a long time and asked his mom, “Mom will I still be 6 years old when we reach the forest?”

2. Our carnal nature chokes the fruit of patience.

This is the season of fruits. If you clearly observe as some fruits begin to grow they are choked by the trunk of the tree. For example jackfruit, sometimes grows in-between 2 stems and is choked and the fruit comes in amazing shapes.

Understand patience is a fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience ….. The fruit of the Spirit, Patience can be choked by our carnal nature like anger, pride, selfishness etc.

ILLUSTRATION

The other day I was driving to the Airport and at a signal, our car got switched off. The signal became green and I could not start the car. There was a heavy-duty truck behind us that could not move because of our car and the driver started honking. He started showing his hand, signaling, shouting at me to make way but I cannot as my car would not start. Finally thank God it started and the traffic got cleared. But all through the honking I was in fact trying hard to start the car and in between, I felt like walking down to the truck driver and asking him to start the car and I will take the job of honking his truck.

How do you respond to people when you lose patience?

Many times we get angry, we shout, because we let our carnal nature choke the fruit of Patience.

 Proverbs 14:29 ²⁹ A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.

Proverbs 15:18 ¹⁸ A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.

3. Developing patience is difficult because we have a fast-paced life and society.

Our city is never relaxed, everyone is busy. We have fast food, quick print, instant dosa mix, quickly heating food by microwave, instant cameras etc. We got so used to the fast-paced life.

I think we all must take a trip back to the places of our origin, our hometowns. There still everything is relaxed, and people are more patient. They have a more relaxed lifestyle. They have more time.

Truly developing patience is difficult because it is against man’s basic nature.

Developing patience is very important and we children of God must be people of great patience.

How do we develop Patience?

1. Abide in Christ.

Understand patience is a fruit of the Spirit and a fruit develops only if the branch is attached to the main stem of the tree.

John 15:5 ⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We have to abide in Christ to develop spiritual fruit. Have fellowship with Godly people spend time in worship and prayer, read His word, meditate on the word of God, and develop long personal prayer times. Slowly we start to produce the fruit of patience.

2. Slow down.

We need to slow down in life. We cannot accomplish everything in one day.

The Lord came up with the idea of Sabbath Day – A day to worship and rest. Our body and mind need rest. We need time to sit and think about what God is doing and absorb His teaching. Some of you need to spend more time with your family. Take a break, watch your children play, take a family break, and so on. Slow down.

When we slow down we tend to overlook the little frustrations of life.

Do not get overly worried about what is happening in their life. Nothing will happen to you without God’s permission. Do not think you can solve all your problems without God. When things are beyond your control do not try to do it on your own and lose patience. You will never be able to handle them without the Lord’s help.

Example: Moses was in such a situation. He had the Red Sea in front of him. The Children of Israel out of bondage from Egypt were with him. Behind the saw the Pharaoh and his mighty army following them. The people are now caught up between the sea and the army. They turned to Moses and shouted, “Moses, weren’t there enough graves in Egypt? Did you lead us all to die here in this place?”

See what Moses said Exodus 14:13 ¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

When it comes to things that you cannot handle be still and wait on the Lord because our God can handle it. Be patient.

CONCLUSION

This morning God is asking many of you to be more patient in your life. How can we be more patient?

Be patient with yourself. You cannot do everything in one day or a month.

Be patient with others. Give others time. Be patient in your relationships.

Be patient with God.

Abide in Christ and develop the fruit of patience. God Bless You!