Patience: Like Jesus
Recently Karen and I have had significant time watching all or a portion of our grandchildren. Not only have these times been special because we love them and love to be with them, they have been such a sweet reminder from those days many years ago when we were raising our children and needed patience daily (even moment by moment).
Don’t get me wrong. Our grandchildren are well-behaved and so it has not been overly difficult. Yet, there have been those times, especially with the youngest ones, that they have acted their age and it can be tempting to be short with them. This is especially a temptation for parents who are in the middle of daily job, house, family, and so many other responsibilities and children do things that are frustrating, there is a need for patience.
Yet, why should we desire this?
1. Why Want Patience?
The first reason we should want to be patient is that patience is part of what God produces in us and the new life that He brings about when we are truly born again. In Colossians 3:12 patience is identified as part of this new life in Jesus Christ.
The second reason is related to the first. It is part of the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us (Galatians 5:22). The word translated, “patience” in both Colossians 3:12 and Galatians 5:22 is makrothymia. This term is comprised of two terms meaning literally, “long wrath or fierceness.” In other words, patience is a virtue, a fruit of the Spirit, that means it takes a long time to get frustrated, angry, or to be irritable. Daniel Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, defined it this way: “A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.” As we grasp what patience is, there should be a joyous desire in each Christian heart to live like this.
The third reason we should want to be patient is that this product of the Sprit which brings about Christlike new life, enables us to spread the fame of the name of Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:12, 17). In other words, it glorifies our Savior. These first three reasons are enough to move us to pursue patience.
Yet, a fourth reason we should want to be patient with our children, grandchildren, spouse, neighbor, or with anyone else, is that this is how we desire others to treat us. Since this is the case and since the renewed Christian heart wants to love, i.e. to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matthew 7:12), then we should want to be patient with others. We should think back to times as a child, for example, when adults were not patient with us and how that made us feel, and we should, motivated by Christlike love, desire more for our children.
It is one thing to speak of why we should want to be patient. But there is also a second question we should ask and answer.
2. How Can We Be Patient?
In Colossians 3:12 and Galatians 5:22 both texts, read in light of their preceding context, show us that ultimately patience comes through Jesus Christ, His new life He effects in us and this through the Holy Spirit He richly pours out on us.
To flesh this out more clearly, we can say that we can be patient as we look to Jesus Christ…
a. As Savior.
Through Jesus’ saving work He gives us bold access to receive mercy and find grace for help in our time of need (Heb. 4:16), and He does this by treating us gently as one who has been clothed in weakness (5:2), which leaves Him able to sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:15). Dane Ortlund, Gentle And Lowly, explains that Jesus does not throw up His hands at our sin, failures, and weaknesses. Instead, as the one who suffered and died for us that we might be forgiven and transformed, He continually leans in and helps us with forbearance to change.
b. As Source.
In the passages we just looked at it also becomes clear that Jesus Christ, as our High Priest, empowers us to live like Him (see 2 Cor. 3:18), that is to be patient as He is patient.
c. As Standard.
We are being transformed into the same image as Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18), who is the ideal human (Heb. 2:5-8), and He exercises patient gentleness with us (Rom. 2:4; Col. 3:10, 12; Heb. 5:2). Therefore, we should desire and strive to be more like Him.
3. So, Be Patient.
When we treat those around us with the goal of Christ’s glory and their joy (1 Cor. 10:26-31; 2 Cor. 1:24), when we treat them as we desire to be treated ourselves, when we remember that the anger of humans never produces the righteousness that God requires (James 1:20), then we want to exercise patience and gentleness with them, even if we must correct them (2 Tim. 2:24-26). We want to be patient and, as we depend upon the grace of our great God (2 Thes. 1:11-12; 3:16, 180, we will be patient. Yet, when we are not, we will remember that the blood of Jesus Christ, the one who was patient in our place and continues to be patient withy us, continually cleanses us of our sins.
So, be patient for His glory and the joy of yourself and others!
Your Joyful Pastor, Aspiring To Be Patient,
Tom
Don’t get me wrong. Our grandchildren are well-behaved and so it has not been overly difficult. Yet, there have been those times, especially with the youngest ones, that they have acted their age and it can be tempting to be short with them. This is especially a temptation for parents who are in the middle of daily job, house, family, and so many other responsibilities and children do things that are frustrating, there is a need for patience.
Yet, why should we desire this?
1. Why Want Patience?
The first reason we should want to be patient is that patience is part of what God produces in us and the new life that He brings about when we are truly born again. In Colossians 3:12 patience is identified as part of this new life in Jesus Christ.
The second reason is related to the first. It is part of the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us (Galatians 5:22). The word translated, “patience” in both Colossians 3:12 and Galatians 5:22 is makrothymia. This term is comprised of two terms meaning literally, “long wrath or fierceness.” In other words, patience is a virtue, a fruit of the Spirit, that means it takes a long time to get frustrated, angry, or to be irritable. Daniel Webster, in his 1828 dictionary, defined it this way: “A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.” As we grasp what patience is, there should be a joyous desire in each Christian heart to live like this.
The third reason we should want to be patient is that this product of the Sprit which brings about Christlike new life, enables us to spread the fame of the name of Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:12, 17). In other words, it glorifies our Savior. These first three reasons are enough to move us to pursue patience.
Yet, a fourth reason we should want to be patient with our children, grandchildren, spouse, neighbor, or with anyone else, is that this is how we desire others to treat us. Since this is the case and since the renewed Christian heart wants to love, i.e. to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matthew 7:12), then we should want to be patient with others. We should think back to times as a child, for example, when adults were not patient with us and how that made us feel, and we should, motivated by Christlike love, desire more for our children.
It is one thing to speak of why we should want to be patient. But there is also a second question we should ask and answer.
2. How Can We Be Patient?
In Colossians 3:12 and Galatians 5:22 both texts, read in light of their preceding context, show us that ultimately patience comes through Jesus Christ, His new life He effects in us and this through the Holy Spirit He richly pours out on us.
To flesh this out more clearly, we can say that we can be patient as we look to Jesus Christ…
a. As Savior.
Through Jesus’ saving work He gives us bold access to receive mercy and find grace for help in our time of need (Heb. 4:16), and He does this by treating us gently as one who has been clothed in weakness (5:2), which leaves Him able to sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:15). Dane Ortlund, Gentle And Lowly, explains that Jesus does not throw up His hands at our sin, failures, and weaknesses. Instead, as the one who suffered and died for us that we might be forgiven and transformed, He continually leans in and helps us with forbearance to change.
b. As Source.
In the passages we just looked at it also becomes clear that Jesus Christ, as our High Priest, empowers us to live like Him (see 2 Cor. 3:18), that is to be patient as He is patient.
c. As Standard.
We are being transformed into the same image as Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18), who is the ideal human (Heb. 2:5-8), and He exercises patient gentleness with us (Rom. 2:4; Col. 3:10, 12; Heb. 5:2). Therefore, we should desire and strive to be more like Him.
3. So, Be Patient.
When we treat those around us with the goal of Christ’s glory and their joy (1 Cor. 10:26-31; 2 Cor. 1:24), when we treat them as we desire to be treated ourselves, when we remember that the anger of humans never produces the righteousness that God requires (James 1:20), then we want to exercise patience and gentleness with them, even if we must correct them (2 Tim. 2:24-26). We want to be patient and, as we depend upon the grace of our great God (2 Thes. 1:11-12; 3:16, 180, we will be patient. Yet, when we are not, we will remember that the blood of Jesus Christ, the one who was patient in our place and continues to be patient withy us, continually cleanses us of our sins.
So, be patient for His glory and the joy of yourself and others!
Your Joyful Pastor, Aspiring To Be Patient,
Tom
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