Patience wouldn’t be rated as one of my top character qualities. For years I’ve tried to figure out why. Then it occurred to me, I hate waiting.
I thought I was a patient person until I began to notice how irritated I got in traffic, at an elevator or in a conversation when I’m waiting for someone to get to the point.
It really began to dawn on me, even more, when I was out in public and my kids would say, ‘dad, calm down.’ I didn’t even know I wasn’t calm. All I knew is that I wanted to unleash the beast on whoever or whatever wasn’t working in my timeframe.
Some say that patience is a lost virtue. I agree but it’s only a lost virtue by choice. We can be patient.
If this is your struggle too I want to give you the single most important principle on how to learn patience in your life.
To kick-start the learning process of patience in your life you have to remember how patient God is with you.
This, I believe, is the single most important step to building patience in your life. It’s so much easier to be patient when we remember how God treats us.
Romans 2:4 gives us great insight into this principle when it says…
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
Let’s be honest, we forget this one WAY too often. We expect God and others to work within our timeframe. But God is never bound by our deadlines.
Thankfully, even though we’re impatient with him, he is very patient with us. He even uses it to his advantage to win us over into a deeper relationship with him. We can really learn from this.
God is – Wonderfully kind, totally tolerant and incredibly patient. But it’s important to understand his intention in treating us this way. He does it to turn us away from our sin. So don’t wear it thin.
Maybe this little life saying will help you if you make it personal.
God has been wonderfully kind to me even with all my sin and failures. He’s showering me with his patient kindness so I will turn from my sin and follow him.
What a powerful truth.
There are going to be a lot of circumstances in your life that are going to test your patience. The best way to overcome impatience in your life is to remember God’s patience. It helps us to win in our relationships.
