What is Patience
Have you ever asked the question, “What is patience?”
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. (James 5:7-8, NIV)
Patience as Waiting
Whenever I ask myself, “What is patience?” I can’t help but think of the “Patience Song” my parents taught me when I was a kid. It went like this, “Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient you only start to worry. Remember, remember, that God is patient too and don’t forget the times when others had to wait on you.” It was a pretty good lesson to not always be in such a hurry.
Patience, the dictionary says, is the ability to accept or tolerate delay or trouble without getting upset. As a general rule, we could all do a better job of tolerating delay. However, there is another dimension to patience that I want to talk to you about today because I don’t think James is asking his readers to simply tolerate the delay of Christ’s return.
Patience as Hope
The call to be patient comes after James has described how the rich have made gaining further riches their number one goal in life. This means they are wrongly relating to God. Wrongly relating to God is idolatry. Furthermore, the rich have withheld wages from workers, so they are wrongly relating to others. Wrongly relating to others is injustice. It is in the face of idolatry and injustice that James calls Christians to be patient until the Lord’s coming.
In the midst of idolatry, whether our own or others’, and injustice, whether done by us or to us, we are to look to the day of the LORD’s return when all things will be made new. When we do that, it does not diminish the idolatry or injustice, it gives us hope for the day those things will end! In other words, Christ-centered patience gives us hope. What is patience? Patience is the beginning of hope.
James gives three examples of the kind of patience he is talking about; farmer, prophets, and Job. Let’s focus our attention on the farmer.
The Farmer
I grew up in the farm country of southwestern Kansas. It was the part of the country where once you get out of town you drive by fields for miles and miles. The primary crop for farmers out there is wheat. Every October, after the corn harvest, the farmers would prepare the ground and then plant the seeds for wheat. After planting there was only two things left to do: wait and work. Even though the seed was planted, the work wasn’t over. There were things to do to prepare for the harvest.
Patience is not THAT you wait, it’s HOW you wait.
The thing with wheat harvest is the seeds and the farmer must endure the winter. As the farmer waits for the harvest, sometimes there will be evidence of the harvest, other times there won’t be any. Sometimes things happen that are completely out of the farmer’s control, other times he makes things happen through his action. Either way, the farmer is always patiently awaiting the harvest while he works in anticipation for the harvest.
We need to be farmers awaiting the harvest of Christ’s return. When Christ returns all things will be made new and his glory will fill the earth. It will be the fulfillment of the prayer Christ taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Scripture says we are to patiently wait for that day. We have two options:
1. Put on a white robe, climb to the top of a hill and look up (that’s a joke).
2. Trust that the harvest is coming and work toward that reality.
Whether you find yourself wrongly relating God or to others, whether you find yourself dealing with difficult circumstances or people; the call of patience is to lean toward the day when all things will be made new. This means we are to work for reconciliation, victory over addiction, forgiveness, and transformation while we wait for His return because we know these are the things that will take place when He does return.
The Patience of God
Every fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is a characteristic of God that the Spirit wants to make in the believer. That means that God himself is the source of all love, joy, peace and, of course, patience. He perfectly embodies patience. He is the one who is patient in the face of our idolatry and our injustice.
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
When we patiently anticipate the day all things will be made new and when we refuse to lose hope in the face of difficult relationships and circumstances we are displaying the character of God and the fruit of the Spirit because we serve a God who is patient and desires that all people come to him.
What is patience? Patience is faithfully working for the kingdom while we wait for the day when all things will be made new.
If you would like to explore the question, “What is patience?” some more, check out these resources from Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins.
Download the sermon discussion guide
Prayer: O God of the exiles and the lost, you promise restoration and wholeness through the power of Jesus Christ. Give us faith to live joyfully, sustained by your promises as we eagerly await the day when they will be fulfilled for all the world to see, through the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. (Source: Revised Common Lectionary, Advent, Year C)