The Fruit of the Spirit - Patience
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November 15, 2009 |
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 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)
In many cases, being happy or not being happy depends on whether one can be patient or not. When we want to receive an answer from God, the fruit of His answer depends on our patience. But the spiritual meaning of patience and the worldly meaning of patience is quite different. The worldly people also endure, but most of them have patience of the flesh.
Imagine the anguish people experience while having to exert self-control over their ill-feelings or lusts! They may frown, clench their teeth, shake all over, or even get sick! Some people stop eating and drinking and still others lose sleep. This is an example of patience of the flesh. In other words, you are practicing flesh with evil in the heart. Spiritual patience is not enduring with evil, but enduring with goodness in the heart. If you endure with goodness, you can overcome difficulties with thanksgiving and hope. As a result, you gain a bigger heart.
If there was no flesh or evil in this world, then we would not have to have patience with anything. If you have the fruit of patience in your heart, your feelings don't waiver in any given situation. If you have a heart that is always at peace and you can melt the heart of other people around you, words like 'patience' or 'forgiveness' don't really take on great meaning. We can categorize spiritual patience into three parts.
The first is the patience to change the heart.
If we have a lot of anger, arrogance, greed, self-righteousness and frameworks, it is difficult to be patient. But as we cast away evil and become sanctified, it becomes easier and easier to be patient. Luke 8:15 says, "But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." Namely, those who have a good 'soil of the heart' can be patient until they bear good fruits. But in reality, we need to have endurance as we make an effort to change our hearts into good soil. We have to make ourselves obedient to the truth by praying fervently with all our hearts and with fasting.
The same goes for sinful natures. You have to pray and change your heart until you completely pull out the root of the sinful nature. But if you are not patient, your determination is weakened and you become lazy while circumcising your heart. Or, just when you think you have cast out something, you discover that it's still inside of you, and you feel very discouraged. You may find forms of untruth still in you while trying to pull out the original root of sinful nature, but this doesn't mean you didn't make any spiritual progress. If you keep on peeling without stopping, the onion will finally disappear. It's the same with sinful natures. When you constantly try to circumcise your heart with faith in this way, your soul will prosper and all things will go well with you.
The second kind of patience is the patience with other people.
When you interact with people who have different personalities and education from your own, you may experience some uncomfortable situations. But those who long for sanctification will be patient in any kind of situation with any kind of person and maintain peace at all costs. They always try to understand others with a good heart and endure while seeking the benefit of others. Even when others act with evil, they bear with them. They pay back this evil only with goodness, not with evil.
When evangelizing, visiting church members, or training church workers, long patience is needed. Even though the work may take a little longer, and you know the fruit of the work will not be as abundant, you should be patient and wait for trainees to gain clear understanding on their own through their experiences, so they can be more capable workers in the long run. It might be easier if the leader who has abilities is apt to just do the work for them, or if he replaces that person with somebody who is more capable. But the reason why you have to endure until the end is for the sake of each soul. This will accomplish the kingdom of God more completely.
If you sow the seed of patience in this way, you will certainly gain the fruit of blessing according to the justice of God. And if you endure with the souls you are tending to until they change, praying for them with tears, you will eventually gain a big enough heart to harbor all of them. As a result, you will gain the authority and power to revive many souls. Also, if you control your heart and sow the seed of endurance even in the face of false accusations, God will let you reap the fruit of His blessings.
Third is the patience in your relationship with God.
This refers to the patience that you should have until you receive the answer to your prayer. There are many promises in the Bible that God will answer His children's prayers. But in many cases people don't receive their answers because they are not patient enough. Men may ask for an immediate response, but God may not answer them immediately. God answers them at the most appropriate and opportune time because He knows everything. If the subject of their prayer request is something big and important, God can answer them only when the amount of prayer is filled.
If we do not have true faith, we cannot wait until we receive what we ask God for in prayer. We may pray and fast to ask God, but if the answer doesn't come quickly enough, we may just give up, thinking God isn't going to answer us. If we have the faith to really receive the answer, we have to pray and act with faith until we actually receive the answer as the fruit. Also, even when we go through some refining trials of the heart or persecutions in our Christian lives, we can bear good fruits if we have patience.
Therefore I hope that you will accomplish true patience in your life, your faith and your heart mature so that you can experience God's blessing and answers that He promises you (James 1:3-4).
The above message is a summary of the sermon preached during Sunday evening service on November 1, 2009. If you want to read this sermon in more detail, visit our website (www. manmin. org) and click on "Sermon".
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