The Fruitful Life: Patience

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to

Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the

Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”(Galatians 5:22-24)

Patience comes from macrothumia, a compound word. Macro means “long” and thumia

means “temper” or “explosion.” It is the exact opposite of a short temper of a short

explosion. Patience is defined as:

Self-restraint under pressure.

The calm willingness to accept situations that are painful or irritating without

getting edgy.

The ability to persevere when outcomes don’t develop as soon as we expected.

So, how patient are you? If you charted your life as a Christian, what would it look like?

Jesus said, “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). How is your day-to-

day existence with God? What situations has God placed you in to teach you patience?

You and I need to remember that God’s agenda is of “conforming us into the image of

Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:29). The purpose of God often develops slowly because we

are always in a hurry and God’s designs are never hurried. Phillips Brooks, the great

New England preacher, was feverishly pacing the floor one day when a friend asked,

“What’s the trouble Mr. Brooks?” His reply was, “The trouble is that I am in a hurry, but

God isn’t!” Haven’t we felt that same way many times?

Abide in Christ this week. Slow down your frantic pace. When you are tempted to

respond to difficulty with anger, restrain your anger. Develop the calm assurance that

God is in control and rest in his guiding hand. When you are in difficult situations that

tempt you to explode – remember Billy.

A guy stops in the grocery store on the way home from work to pick up some things for

his wife. He wanders aimlessly, searching out the needed groceries. While at the store

he noticed another father trying to shop with a totally uncooperative three-year-old boy

in the cart. The little boy was asking over and over again for a candy bar. He heard Dad say,

“Now, Billy this won’t take long.” As they paused in the next aisle the little tot’s pleas

had increased several octaves. Dad was quietly saying, “Billy, just calm down. We’ll be

done in a minute.”

Then the kid started screaming uncontrollably. Dad just kept his cool. In a very low

voice he was saying, “Billy. Settle down. We’re almost out of here.” The Dad reached

the checkout counter and Dad gave no evidence of losing control. The boy, on the

other hand, was screaming and kicking. Dad kept calmly saying over and over, “Billy,

we will be in the car in just a minute and then everything will be ok!”

The shopper was impressed beyond words. After paying for his groceries, he hurried to

catch up with this amazing example of patience just in time to hear him say again, “Billy,

we’re done. It’s going to be ok.” He tapped the patient father on the shoulder and said,

“Sir, I couldn’t help but watch how you handled little Billy. You were amazing!” Dad

replied, “You don’t get it, do you? I’m Billy!”

Dr. Derek