Patient Obedience
How long are you willing to be obedient?
Verse of the Day
“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Today’s Devotional
Today’s verse does not specifically mention “patience”, but the sentiment is there. I have mentioned before that this verse was the pillar I held onto during a very difficult season of my life. But I did not do a very good job of obeying this verse. I was very tired of doing what I thought was “good”, and I really wanted to give up. More than anything, I just wanted the hard part to be over. Have you ever felt that way?
To me, this verse is a call to patient obedience, otherwise known as perseverance. This morning I read something from Oswald Chambers that fits beautifully with today’s verse. “Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perseverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for – love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men – will not win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated. One of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. But He brings fulfillment, “because you have kept My command to persevere” (Revelation 3:10) Continue to persevere spiritually.”
Spiritual perseverance, then, is the willingness to continue doing good even when we see no earthly “fruit” of our efforts. It is having the patience given by the Spirit to be faithful to God even when it is difficult. There’s nothing the devil would like more than for us to give up. God is calling us to be patient with His determination of what exactly is “just the right time”, and for us to continue to be obedient to Him no matter what.
In Luke 18, Jesus teaches us to “always pray and never give up”, to pray with perseverance. At the end of this teaching, He finishes with a question. “But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8) Our patient obedience is one of the ways we display our faith. Our persistent prayers display our faith in our loving Father. “And it is impossible to please God without faith” (Hebrews 11:6)
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How easily do you give up?
In what areas of faith do you need the Spirit’s help with patient obedience?
What would spiritual perseverance look like in your daily life?
Where and how do you need patience with God’s timing?
How does your patience display your faith in God? How does your impatience display a lack of faith?
How can you ask for God’s help today to persevere?