God is Patient

We continue this week with our series, Removing the Roadblocks to Forgiveness. In our attempt to forgive our enemies, we seek to understand what it means to be righteous. Therefore, we are taking time to define God's character. So far, we have learned about his goodness, love, mercy, and grace. This week, we will look at God's patience, holiness, peace, justice, and protection. Today, we focus on his patience.

What is patience?
Webster's Dictionary tells us that patience is the capacity of calm endurance. The words patience and forbearance denote tolerance of something or somebody over a period of time, generally without complaint, through not necessarily without annoyance. Patience is an admirable endurance of a trying situation or person, usually through a passiveness which comes out of understanding. Forbearance denotes restraint, usually in the face of considerable provocation.

God is patient with us.
There are numerous Bible verses which indicate that God is patient and slow to anger. Psalm 86:15 (NIV) reads, But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

The apostle Paul summed up Christ's patience with us in I Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV):

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

Like Paul, we sin so much that we try Christ's patience. But the Lord continues to show us mercy while we strive to become more like him, just as Paul did.

We must be patient with others.
If Christ is patient with us so that we can get our acts together in order to receive eternal life, it stands to reason that he is probably equally patient with our enemies. And if Christ can be patient with the people who hurt us deeply, then we must strive to be patient with them, too.

I really like the phrase slow to anger. If we think about what happens when we are impatient, it generally means that we are angry that someone isn't doing something fast enough to suit us.

If our perpetrator has not yet apologized to us, offered some form of restitution, or initiated reconciliation, we need to be patient with him. That means that we cannot become angry when he doesn't act according to our schedule. When the time is right, he may make the decision to surrender his life to Christ and begin the work necessary to restore relationships.

Practice patience in little ways.
Waiting for an enemy to apologize and make amends may take more patience than we can muster. In the meantime, we can develop greater patience by practicing it with others in small ways.

When the insurance company representative puts you on hold for your entire lunch break, remember to wait patiently and skip getting angry. When you're stuck in traffic for hours, focus on breathing deeply or listening to soothing music instead of raging at the cars ahead that aren't moving. When your child dawdles over cleaning up his room, give him the time he needs to accomplish the task. And when your spouse rambles on about something you really don't want to hear, give him your full attention.

People may try our patience and annoy us with their slowness. But if we want to be like God, we must learn to become more tolerant of irritating people, avoid complaining about them, understand why they are slower than we are, and refrain from rash judgments about them.

Forgiveness requires patience.
If we want to forgive someone, we must practice patience. Our enemy may need a lifetime to figure out how deeply he has hurt us and how important it is to us that he apologize. He may never reach these conclusions, but that doesn't matter. What is important is that we wait patiently for him to do his part as we work on our part in the forgiveness process.

Today's Challenge
In your journal, write down a list of people or things that try your patience. Next, make a second list of ways that you can practice greater tolerance, avoid complaining about these annoyances, understand why others may need more time than you do, or how you can better practice being slow to anger as God is.