EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2021.
SUBJECT : THE NEED OF PATIENCE!
Memory verse: "For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (Hebrews 10 vs 36.)
READ: Hebrews 10 vs 32 - 36:
10:32: But recall the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:
10:33: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations; and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated;
10:34: for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possessions for yourselves in heaven.
10:35: Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
10:36: For you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
INTIMATION:
Patience is the quality of being able calmly to endure suffering, toil, delay, vexation, or any similar condition. Patience is a divine virtue or spiritual fruit. It can be simply defined as “waiting without complaint.” And it is listed as one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 vs 22 - 23). It perfects Christian character. Fellowship in the patience of Christ is therefore, the condition upon which believers are to be admitted to reign with Him. For this patience believers are ‘strengthened with all power,’ through His Spirit in the inward man.’
Hence the Lord teaches us to love as God loves, and to be patient as Christ is patient.
The Scripture we read today encourages believers to persevere in the Christian faith and conduct when facing persecution and pressure. We don’t usually think of suffering as good for us, but it can build our character and our patience. During times of great stress, we may feel God’s presence more clearly and find help from Christians we never thought would care. Knowing that Jesus is with us in our suffering and that He will return one day to put an end to all pain helps us grow in our faith and our relationship with Him.
When faced with a difficult decision, don’t allow impatience to drive you to disobey God. When you know what God wants, follow His plan regardless of the consequences. God often uses delays to test our obedience and patience. Trusting God when nothing seems to happen is difficult. But it is harder still to live with the consequences of taking matters into our own hands. Resist the temptation to think God has forgotten you. Have patience and courage to wait for God to act.
The Scripture abounds with those who through patience obtained the promise. For instance, David did not become king over all Israel until he was 37 years old, although he had been promised the kingdom many years earlier (First Samuel 16 vs 13). During those years, David had to wait patiently for the fulfillment of God’s promise. If you feel pressured to achieve instant results and success, remember David’s patience. Just as his time of waiting prepared him for his important task, a waiting period may help you by strengthening your character.
Although God promises to reward our good deeds, we sometimes feel our “payoff” is too far away or delayed. Be patient. God steps in when it will do the most good. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai had exposed a plot to assassinate Ahasuerus—thus, he had saved the king’s life (Esther 2 vs 21 - 23). Although the good deed was recorded in the history books, Mordecai had gone unrewarding. But God was saving Mordecai’s reward for the right time. Just as Haman was about to hang him unjustly, the king was ready to give the reward.
It has been said that nothing teaches like experience. To some degree this is true of the virtues. Pain and suffering teach us endurance and empathy. The experience of mercy and forgiveness inclines us to be more merciful and forgiving. We gain moral maturity each day precisely because each day brings some difficulty that we must overcome. Like it or not, we persevere, and we are morally the better for it.
Misfortunes are designed to build virtue in us, and among the virtues gained through difficulty is patience. That family member or work associate who annoys you is God's gift to you to build your patience. If you're stuck with a job you don't like, and you can't find any other work, then God is building your patience. Each nuisance, long wait, and affliction, every mosquito bite, traffic jam, and body ache in the life of the Christian raises her threshold of tolerance ever so much. Even tedious sermons and difficult reading (perhaps including what you are enduring right now!) can make you a more patient person.
So through the daily grind, the Christian grows morally, improving in virtue through various experiences that she might not even consider morally relevant, much less significant. But we who affirm the sovereignty of God shouldn't be surprised by this moral growth through even incidentals, for we believe God is always at work in the details, moving always to bring us into closer conformity to His image (Romans 8 vs 28).
This is why the apostle James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Prayer: Abba Father, let the virtue of patience be developed in me by the working of the Holy Spirit, that I may be strengthened in the inner man to persevere in Christ to the end, and obtain the promise, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
