Galatians 5:22 tells details clearly what is called "the fruit of the Spirit" -- the characteristics of Christ that we can experience for ourselves if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our lives. The passage tells us:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Now, I definitely want to live by the Spirit and grow into the likeness of Christ. That is my life goal. But why does that one dirty word --- PATIENCE --- have to be there? The rest are so peaceful and happy and outwardly focused, but patience just gives me pain to hear the word!
Yes. It's true, I've always struggled with patience. When I get my mind focused on something... I want to see it come to fruition! While that's true in lots of different parts of my life, I think the hardest times for me are when God's promises are clear, but the results are slow. Or at least slower than I think they should be. It's in these times it's easy for doubts to arise and frustrations to set in much like they did for the Israelite people.
In the Old Testament writings, the prophets spoke of a Messiah who would come to save God's people and establish his kingdom forever. For a nation plagued with captivity and unrest from neighboring peoples, this was indeed a promise to count on. Yet, between the time of the prophets writings and the birth of Jesus there were more than 400 years of waiting -- simply waiting for God's promises to be revealed! The truth is, during this time, many people lost patience and fell away from trusting God, and sadly as a result, they missed the glorious fulfillment of God's promises in Christ Jesus.
You see, having a lack of patience tends to make us take our own approach, seek our own path and take over control ourselves. But having godly patience ensures that we keep our eyes on what God's doing and don't miss out on the blessings he has for us. No, it's not easy, but the apostle Paul tells us that such patience -- or "perseverence" -- is key to a life in Christ. He puts it this way:
"...but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us"
Romans 5:3-4
So, I guess there's good reason that "patience" is part of the "fruit of the Spirit" -- because it builds our hope and trust in God to deliver his promises in our lives. Promises that are always true, can never be forsaken and cannot be matched by any other source!
Hmmm... guess it's not a dirty word after all!
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