Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience. (II Pet. 1:5,6)
What is more needed in our daily walk with Christ than patience? (Ellen will be glad when she sees that I have come to grips again with patience in this passage; more than anyone, she knows I need a good dose of it!)
In this age of the “instant,” we want things pronto: instant cereal, instant information, instant potatoes, and even instant cash!
But, in spiritual matters, things do not usually come instantly! Certainly, salvation comes instantly upon one’s confession of faith in Christ and repentance toward God, but after that comes a process of spiritual growth and nurturing. Peter urges us in I Peter 1:2 to “desire the sincere milk of the Word,” as a newborn infant, that we may grow thereby; and his last written word to his readers was “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (II Pet. 3:18)
No one knew better than the Apostle Peter that patience did not come overnight. He was the one who drew his sword in the garden and cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant’s son. He was the one who jumped out of the boat naked to run toward his Lord on the sea; He was the one who swore when asked the third time if he were not a follower of Jesus. Peter knew that patience was needful; and so do we. “In patience, possess your souls.” (Luke 21:19); “Be patient to all men.” (I Th. 5:14) “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” (Hebs. 10:36) “Let us run with patience the race…before us.” (Hebs. 12:2) “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.” (Rom. 12:12)
- We will need patience in prayer. “And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?” (Luke 18:7) George Muller, operator of an orphanage in England, once said that he prayed 18 years for something, but he never prayed for anything that God did not answer.
My wife recently listened as a long-time friend of ours shared with her that a son-in-law had recently accepted Christ as his Savior. She had been praying for his salvation for 36 years! God answers prayer. It may be soon, it may be late, but He has promised to hear and answer our prayers.
As I finished typing the previous paragraph, a text notice appeared on my phone. It read, in part: “We have a living God who hears and answers prayers.” This from a person who underwent surgery last week and is recovering without complications. Yes, He does!
- We will need patience for progress. “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” (Rom. 2:7) “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts.” (James 5:7-8) Thomas Edison tried 18,000 times and failed until success finally came on try 18,001! Hudson Taylor, missionary statesman and founder of the China Inland Mission, said there were three absolute requirements for a missionary: (1) Patience, (2) Patience, and (3) Patience.
- We will need patience in tribulations: “The testing of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:3) “Tribulation worketh patience.” (Romans 5:3) “Blessed is the man that endureth temptations, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life.” (James 1:12)
“Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” (James 5:11)
We will not be tested as Job was; but we will be tested, and through every trial we can trust God that He is “growing” us into a patient, productive, fruit-bearing branch in Him who is the vine.
Back when ice-cream sundaes at the old soda fountain were much cheaper, a lad asked the waitress how much a sundae would cost. “50 cents,” she replied, a bit impatiently. The boy reached deeply into his pockets, pulling out a number of coins and carefully counting them, then asked, “How much is a bowl of plain ice-cream?” The waitress, noticing that there were other customers waiting, angrily said, “35 cents.” The lad again carefully counted his coins to the last penny. “I’ll have the plain ice-cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice-cream and walked away. When the lad finished his ice-cream, he paid the cashier and left. As the waitress came back to pick up the empty bowl, she had to swallow a bit hard when she noticed, carefully placed beside the folded napkin, two nickels and five pennies—her tip!
Yes, let us add to our faith patience!
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4)
YOU and GOD 