Patience—the patience of God—is a gift God offers to humankind. Being a gift, it is FREE. It costs nothing to claim it, and it isn’t even hard to claim.
But we must be WILLING to receive it.
It requires surrender at one level and commitment on another. It requires us to go against the flow of our carnal selves, and against the ebb of our self-sufficiency, and to choose instead to live in the lap of the will of God—which seems hard, but it is actually the easiest of things from the point of view of surrender and commitment. That’s when it becomes hard—because unless we are surrendered and committed, we don’t get it.
In and of itself, patience as a gift is first a choice
to act patiently, one moment at a time.
What motivates the choice that becomes
an action is another thing entirely.
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Patience is good for us because it is good for others,
and because it is good for others and therefore us,
we will ALL thrive and grow
when we are able to demonstrate patience.
Think about it, patience is such a wonderful gift to receive. It is the very exemplification of grace. And this heralds the fact and theology of God’s grace. If another person’s patience is a wonderful grace to receive, think about the gift of salvation—God’s eternal patience—expressed as a plan, conceived from before the beginning of time.
Ah, SALVATION, the gravity and the gift of salvation.
We take our salvation for granted to our detriment, yet when we are grateful for it, the simplest and most powerful of blessings, our lives are enhanced and transformed, and we tap into patience for ourselves and others ever more. It really is very simple and this patience we tap into as if it were on tap. Like with all things of God, the depths of goodness can neither be plumbed nor fathomed.
And it is this patience that augments the grace of forgiveness.
TWO TYPES OF PATIENCE – EASY & HARD
Just to be clear, there are what I see to be two types of patience, one that is hard and one that is easy. The hard patience we’ve all experienced when we’ve earnestly sought to be patient. It’s when we MUST be patient and we choose to be patient, a thing of great discipline. It’s the type where patience is wisdom, a real character competency.
The easy patience is more a gift of God,
and it is to be nurtured
through surrender and commitment.
Easy patience is when we find that our faith fortified by the Holy Spirit to such an extent that there is no sign of anger that might have previously been there. When we have been graced with this type of easy patience, we cannot explain it, but it is so easy—the truest of gifts.
Hard patience is the typical kind that we experience a lot in our more carnal existence in life. The truth is this is the most common patience. It is patience despite the presence of frustration and anger. It is the overcoming of these. It is the type of patience where we grit our teeth to get through, choosing joy despite hardship. It is the type of patience that has the appearance of patience without being a patience gifted to us as easy patience is. But it is still a good form of Christian patience, and this kind of patience is emblematic of most seasons of our lives if we are honest.
True patience, therefore, is easy patience—the patience of God. A forgiving patience. Easy patience—or holy patience—is the patience of Jesus, who is Perfect Patience.
JESUS IS PERFECT PATIENCE
Jesus was called “Perfect Patience” by early church father, Cyprian of Carthage (210–258), not least by his approach with Judas Iscariot and Saul who became Paul, both of whom we can relate with. By this Cyprian connects patience with both wisdom and humility, but not in common, worldly ways that are ‘perfectible’.
The wisdom and humility of Christ is in knowing that all is well as all ends well—which is applied as the prophetic nature of practical faith. Hebrews 11:1 puts it well: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
As easy patience can only come from a full unequivocal momentary willing surrender to God, by the unconditional acceptance of the uncontrollable purposes of life, such a surrender equips the person with easy patience because nothing—yes, absolutely nothing—is coveted. There is no greed, nor envy, nor jealousy, nor lust, nor anger. There is no pride. No sin, whatsoever. As mere human beings, this can only be mastered one moment at a time.
In this, the easy patience is exemplified in us, as Jesus was and is and ever will be, by the Holy Spirit, Perfect Patience.
PATIENCE, WHAT IS IT IF NOT FOR THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS?
The real blessing that comes from forgiveness is patience for self, for others, for life.
This is because within patience is the peace of a heart that is right with God and therefore life, and this is the case because forgiveness is right—right before God, right for us, right for others—and when we do what is right, we enjoy peace as a result.
This is an incredible reality of BEING to live, as to experience.
This is the pinnacle of Christian faith, to be a living, breathing testimony of the grace of God. It is what it means to live in the fullness of eternity right here on earth—“on earth as it is in heaven.” It does not mean that the carnal nature has been perfectly transcended, but the blessed peace that comes from patience as the fruit of forgiveness is a reward for having faith sufficient to forgive. This is because we have trusted the Word of God to the extent of forgiving in advance of the blessing promised because it is the right thing to do.
WHAT DOES PATIENCE AS FORGIVENESS LOOK LIKE?
Both the means and the end transcending the means, patience is something that enables forgiveness, and it is the blessing that comes from forgiveness.
Patience and forgiveness are hence intertwined and interdependent. The former is the blessing promised from forgiveness, but it is also required input to forgive. Patience will help with forgiveness as forgiveness will also help with patience. And because patience mitigates anger it promotes peace and wellbeing, and we should all want it.
Patience humbles us to acknowledge we must do
what we cannot do without God.
Whenever we have struggled to forgive, perhaps we have also struggled to comprehend the interchangeability and blessedness of patience. Patience mitigates the pride that stifles forgiveness.
THE MOTIVE FOR PATIENCE
“What’s in it for me?” It’s an ever-relevant question. It speaks to the concept of motivation. Motivation is humanity’s drive to do what inspires it to do. So, what inspires patience? What makes patience important to do?
Centrally, patience must be about overcoming our desire and need of comfort. Surrender our insistence that we be comforted, and everything we truly need (which is little) will be granted to us, such is the spirit and pledge of Matthew 6:33.
Being that patience is a perfect way to express and operationalise forgiveness, given that it is a key fruit of forgiveness, and given that forgiveness is THE way to access peace in our lives, that ought to be sufficient motive to endeavour upon the mastery of patience.
It is worth losing our lives to save them in Jesus’ name through a patience that masters every situation because there are too many petty situations we lose our patience for. And from this perspective all situations and gains are petty compared with the prize of patience.
Think about it. If we were able to always maintain our patience we would have constant access to peace, and we would be the safest and most trustworthy of persons. Obedient to God, great for others!
Such patience is full of integrity and humility,
it mirrors the faithfulness of God.
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It is indeed what God is calling us to.
So the motive for patience is a life wisely lived, for there is hardly a wiser way to live life than to agree to live for patience. And think about that from an endpoint of view. To achieve such patience there must be the truest and rightest setting for what is important in life.
The end justifies the means—as a faithful promise
—and—by faith—the means produces the end.
The patience of God is a patience to emulate. As God is slow to anger and abounding in love, we are to grow into such a patience that others remark about the peace we have. It is blessed to be a blessing, and in this context, this is no cliché. It is the power of God, the power of forgiveness, that indwells it.
So, Lord, bless the reader to imbibe
such a mission for Your patience,
in augmenting Your forgiveness in their lives.
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