Unrelenting patience

We are grateful to God for your lives and we always pray for you. For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love motivates you to serve others, and how unrelenting is your hope-filled patience in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 TPT)

​I am one of those people who, when I start a project, wants to finish it straightaway, if I am stuck in traffic I start drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, if I'm out in a restaurant I don't like waiting too long for my meal. All these show a lack of patience. In other circumstances I can show great patience, like when I'm watching a sunset, waiting for the perfect moment to take a photograph or simply resting and waiting for something or someone. 

The dictionary defines patience as 'waiting without complaint' or 'calmly enduring suffering'. 

When we read about the fruit of the Spirit we are easily excited about love, joy and peace but then we arrive at the ones where we feel more work on our part is needed. It's a good thing it's the fruit of the Spirit and not our own self-generated fruit. 

Patience requires trust and dependency on another. Inevitably, patience involves waiting for something to happen. However, it's not the waiting that is important but rather how we wait. The Psalms are full of encouragement to wait and see God act on our behalf ..... 'I waited patiently for the Lord'. They show us the dependency that, particularly, King David had on his Heavenly Father. When he couldn't achieve things in his own strength, he waited for the One who was much stronger and more able. 

If we can learn to wait, then we will discover the fruit of patience at work in us and we are led into rest. 

Human patience may be in short supply but as we live in love the patience of the Holy Spirit will be seen in our lives.