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Patience
Brian Mashburn
July 14, 2013
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Patience
Impatient people are weak. They lack strength inwardly where it counts. There is no such thing as a Spirit-controlled impatient person. If one trusts God, commits his way to God, in every instance, he is patient.
The impatient, however, don't present as weak. Their outbursts (whether expressed outwardly or only known to themselves inwardly) make them look and feel strong, rational, demanding, and justified. But their noise is camouflage for childishness, immaturity, weakness. They depend on external supports - like schedules that go just right, and circumstances that support their fragile appearance of well-being, and people that fit their comfort zones.
Without patience, not only is personal peace unavailable, but the whole Christian experience is impossible. So when Paul prays for folks to have it, it is for the opposite of weakness - strength! "May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy." (Colossians 1:11)
We don't have to wait much for anything anymore. It has bred a commitment to speed in Christians that has made transformation impossible. Imagine the caterpillar demanding the cocoon do its work by a certain time else it is moving on. It would leave him undeveloped and limited. Imagine the farmer insisting the crops grow now else he will stop his labor? He would stop without a harvest. Countless times, we are called on by scripture to "wait".
Allow the Spirit to grow you up, to develop patience in you, and the vast landscape of the Kingdom will come into view over the horizon of your life.