Anyone For Patience?

2020 has been a year of disappointments and frustrations; our patience has been tested time and again, and the Christmas season provides plenty of extra opportunities: traffic jams, busy shops, delayed post, difficult relatives…

As Paul turns in his description of love from negatives to positives, he begins with patience, “to be long-tempered” or “bear with” one another. There are many good examples of patience in the Bible; Sinclair highlights Joseph’s experiences of slavery and his time as Prime Minister of Egypt (Genesis 37-50). Joseph’s life was painful and difficult, but through it all, God was teaching him how to love. Because of this, he was able to genuinely reconcile with his brothers; Joseph understood that God’s purposes are always good, and that he had used their evil acts for the good of many (Genesis 50:20-21).

It is God’s good purpose for each of us to become more like Christ every day. Sinclair writes, “Love is not a commodity that comes down from heaven waiting to be unwrapped. No—it is actively exercising patience with other people and with the circumstances God has ordained. It is being able to take the long-term view, knowing that nothing can happen to us without the will of our heavenly Father. Love acts and reacts without tensing up in irritation because life isn’t fair, without blaming other people for what we are experiencing, and without planning how we’ll get even.”

God demonstrated his patience with us by sending Jesus to be born at precisely the right time. Christ demonstrated it throughout his life, being gracious towards those who opposed him, bearing with his faltering disciples, suffering through the shame and agony of the cross. And he continues to show be longsuffering with each of us every day as we try (and often fail) to imitate his patient love.

Today, take some time to think about who or what has tested your patience over the last few days. How did you respond? How might Christ have responded if he were in your place? Pray for opportunities to practice godly patience in all circumstances.

Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair B. Ferguson (published by The Good Book Company) available to buy at Eden Christian Bookstore or Amazon.