Patience
March 10, 2021
Patience is literally defined as, “The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from Christian submission to the divine will.” (KJV new version Dictionary)
In Christianity, patience gives strength and hope, for we shall acknowledge the presence of God within and around us. The Apostle James said, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” (Jas 5:7-11)
Patience is a virtue; Saint Paul lists this virtue as one of the “fruits of the Spirit”. Our and Savior Lord Jesus Christ in His humble obedience to God was exceedingly patient. He bared all the pain and sufferings for upon the cross for Human race. However, People tend to mostly be impatient without any being aware and negligently disrespecting its virtue. They prefer to rather take actions in resolving any circumstances. Man’s own will and freedom is what determines our patience. But as Christians, we chose to bare the pain, sorrow and suffering as to what we will embrace as the fruit of patience is tasteful. “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, which indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Galatians 5.22, Matthew 13:23)
Christians are those who are patience up to their limit, knowing its God’s will to live through it in the days of our lives. God’s words speak of the virtue of Patience in inheriting His kingdom. As the lives of all Christians are filled to with hardships and privations, it is important to be patient in all the endurances that we face.
The life of Righteous and Saints was filled with all the tribulations and sufferings as we shall find it written in Holy Bible and other Scriptures. The story of Job is an exemplary; the bible states, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” (James 5:11)
Job was a very patient righteous man, because he endured life extreme in the amount of suffering. God tasted his patience, using Satan. He lost all his children and his wealth in a day. Then, he was covered by painful sores, for no one was able to come near him even for nurturing. Neither his wife nor his relatives and neighbors offered him support. His wife even encouraged him to give up, curse God, and die. (Job 2:9) Though his three friends came to visit him; they were unable to recognize him. During their conversions, they falsely accused him of misconducts saying he had unregretful heart. Although, it was immensely painful to bare all this, Job was patient through it all. (Job 2:10-12)
After all the sufferings and sorrow, God gave everything Job lost twofold. “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” He regained his wealth back being twice richest and becoming a father of ten Children. “Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.” In every generation, Job’s patience is taken as an exemplary and is even called upon by all people who are patient. (Job 42:10-17)
The Apostle Saint Paul said, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Romans 5:3); and in his epistle to the Corinthians he stated, “But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fasting; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.” (2 Corinthians 6:4-7)
Even though we are facing tribulations including the recent plagues attacking the world, and all the sufferings we bare in our lives, we shall be patience for it is necessary to defeat our enemy Satan. Because patience is not only a virtue in itself but it is also the strength in helping endure trials. For the one walking in long-suffering will be strong; thus, it is possible for us to be diligent in our faith and religion.
May it be God’s will that we shall be patient within our faith in the Savior Jesus Christ for the rest of our lives to endure our trials; Amen!