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Facets of Fruit: Patience What does it mean to be patient? We'll look at the three types of patience and their opposites to gather a better understanding of what it means to grow in patience, as well as how to do that practically. Show Notes: Welcome back to More than Milk. I’m Hannah Rebekah. We are in the middle of a series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and today we’re thinking through the facet of fruit known as patience. When I start working on a podcast, one of the first things I do is go to website I love—openbible.info/topics—and search things related to the topic I’m going to be speaking on. This brings up bible verses related either directly or indirectly to the words I search. When I looked up “patience,” something became evident quickly: there are three main types of patience. The first is the opposite of anger. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never thought of patience as being the opposite of anger. Now that I do think about it, though, it makes perfect sense. “Impatience,” the classic opposite of patience, has major connotations of frustration and anger. The Bible has a lot to say about this form of patience, in fact I would say it has the most to say about this form of patience. Ecclesiastes 7:8-9 says, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.” The culture that surrounded the Hebrew language during the Old Testament was one of repetition. If you wanted to say something was big, you’d say that word twice. For instance, you wouldn’t say “deep hole,” you’d say “hole hole.” The same is true of longer statements. If you want to really get your point across, you say the same thing from as many different angles as possible. This is a very common poetical device, and you can see it prominently in Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. When Solomon says, “the patient spirit is better than the proud spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools,” he’s saying the same thing from opposite perspectives. You should be patient and also not angry—the same thing. James 1:19-20 says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” This is a general command against anger as a response to other people. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it, but the reason we get angry most of the time is because a) someone is doing something that irritates us, or b) someone has gotten in the way of our doing or achieving something we had planned or hoped was going to happen. Being patient instead of being angry requires a) seeing the other person the way God sees them—as either sinners in need of saving or saints saved by grace—and b) viewing ourselves and our agenda as not more important than anyone else’s. Proverbs 15:18 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.” When we are viewing ourselves and our own plans, hopes, and dreams as the most important, which is a symptom of pride, we are easily angered by those who get in the way of that. This could be children who aren’t behaving, colleagues who get the promotion we wanted, spouses who turn out not to be everything we were dreaming they’d be, other drivers who cut us off or make us late by driving slowly. When we get angry over these things, we’re demonstrating a belief that our personal goals are more important than anyone else’s—and more important than God’s. We have no idea how His agenda might be played out because we’re late to work or can’t have children of our own, or anything else that happens that frustrates our ideals of life. Seeing other people as just as valuable as ourselves and God’s plan as perfect frees us from anger and cooperates with the Spirit to create patience in our hearts. And that patience is a signal fire to others that something is different about us. It creates unity in the Body of Christ and intrigue in unbelievers. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” Colossians 3:12-13, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Being patient allows us to be able to forgive one another. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” The second type of patience is that of waiting. “Don’t be hasty,” as Treebeard would say. Hastiness has some connotations of frustration and anger, but it’s not quite the same as what we’ve already discussed. Isaiah 40:27-31 says, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” God does not work in our timing. We don’t know what He’s up to. It may seem at times as though God is not listening, not working, not caring for you, but He promises that those who are patient and trust Him will receive strength and power in due time. Psalm 37:1-13, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.” This type of waiting patience takes the long view. Right now, it appears that evil triumphs. But we know that in the end, that is not the case. God wins. Evil is punished. Good is rewarded. Those who trust in the Lord and forsake worry and anger will inherit the earth. Galatians 6:7-10, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” In the meantime, while we wait for what we know is to come, we should continue to do good, do what we know God has called us to, believing that He will use it for our good and His glory. The third type of patience is endurance. When things are hard, this type of patience does not give up. You can see elements of the previous two forms of patience here as well, and there’s definitely some overlap in categories. When we encounter trials, we can be angry, impulsive, and worry. This type of patience connotes more acute suffering. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 8:18-25, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Here we can see the overlap of waiting and endurance. There are things we are waiting for and current sufferings we are enduring, all while trusting God’s promises. Romans 5:3-5, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Not only are we to be patient through suffering, but suffering produces patience. So to sum up, there are three forms of patience: being emotionally controlled instead of angry, waiting for things to come, and enduring hardships. We can cultivate patience by remembering that we are no more important than anyone else, God is Sovereign, God has promised that evil will eventually be punished and good will have its reward, and God does and will continue to use all things we go through for our good and His glory. Thank you for joining me on the podcast today. I hope you have a better understanding of what patience is and how you can cooperate with the Holy Spirit in cultivating it in your own life. I leave you with the words of Paul from Ephesians 4:1-3, “I therefore… urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” I hope to see you next week when we will be talking about kindness.