ODJ: Powerful Patience

May 24, 2016 

READ: Galatians 5:22-23  

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (vv.22-23).

A few years ago I went to the Grand Canyon in America. As we marvelled at the natural beauty before us, we had to strain our eyes to see the little ribbon of water winding its way through the bottom of the massive canyon, one of the tributaries of the Colorado River. It was that tributary, some believe, that helped to patiently carve and make manifest the immense and majestic marvel we now viewed—the likes of which no human has ever been able to create!

In this day and age it’s easy for us to forget the importance and power of patience. After all, our culture is one that values instant gratification—one in which patience has little to no value. What good is waiting when we can communicate with people instantaneously through email, phones or texts, or pick up a loaf of bread at a shop that’s open 24 hours a day? Patience seems like a bygone value of a bygone age.

But in chapter 5 in Galatians we come to see where patience springs from. “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (v.23). A life filled with the power and presence of God’s Spirit will not only be a life filled with love and peace, but patience as well. And patience is indeed powerful, for it allows us to persevere—even suffer—through difficult circumstances that would otherwise cause us to turn from God (2 Thessalonians 1:4-5).

So, in some way, patience is the means through which we can witness the full power of God. And as we pray for and seek God’s Spirit and strength to fill our lives, we can know that He will also help us to be more patient as well!

—Peter Chin

365-day plan: Jeremiah 1:1-19

MORE
Read Genesis 41:9-41 and consider how Joseph patiently waited for God to work in his life. 
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Do you lack patience in your life? What situation reveals this most clearly? How can you trust God more even as you wait on Him?