Seek God First
In what ways do you need patience?
Verse of the Day
“Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.”
Ecclesiastes 7:8 NLT
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”
Ecclesiastes 7:8 NIV
Today’s Devotional
I read in a commentary today that pride is the chief cause of impatience. That stings a little. So anywhere that I am struggling with impatience, pride may be the underlying issue.
As we seek to learn to be patient, let’s seek God first, since He is perfect in His patience (and its limits) with us. As I’ve been praying over this topic and studying it, I have come to ask: In what ways do we need patience? Let’s break it down.
- I need patience with God and His timing. I got a text this morning from someone who is waiting on God for an answer about something before she acts. Waiting on God can be very difficult. But we must remind ourselves how trustworthy He is in all things. Being patient with God’s timing becomes easier when we take the time to reflect on how He has worked for us in the past.
- I need patience with other people. People can be very irritating. But Jesus tells us in John 13:35 that “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Therefore, how we treat people matters. How we react to others is an indication of our willingness to be patient with God’s other kids. Do we extend grace to others for wherever they may be in their journey of faith – even if they haven’t found faith in God yet? Do we expect near perfection of others? Colossians 3:13 tells us to “make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.” Are we behaving this way?
- I need patience with situations. Whether I like to admit it or not, most situations are beyond my control. I had a trip canceled recently because of the weather. I have another trip coming up that may be affected by the weather. There are hurricanes and storms and traffic jams. There are organizations and institutions that do their work very slowly. Am I patient and tolerant in these situations? Am I praying for God’s help to trust in His outcomes?
- I need patience with myself. I am a work in progress. I will be a work in progress for as long as I live. So will you. Am I expecting myself to make progress faster than I am? I must remember that God loves me exactly as I am today, even though I’m flawed and broken. (Romans 5:8) I must also remember that it is God’s job to change me, and my job to make myself available to Him. Philippians 2:13 says, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Sometimes, being patient with myself is the hardest kind of patience to practice.
In my research, I have also discovered that there are two different kinds of patience. The Institute for Biblical Counseling offers this wise counsel:
“Patience comes in two forms: human and spiritual. If we walk in the Spirit we will have the patience of Christ living in and through us. Patience can also be expressed by the power of your own will and strength. You can decide to be calm in a given situation even though it is difficult to do. You can force yourself to conform to a situation that requires patience even though you are not patient. The human spirit can be quite determined. Human acting ability can be so convincing that discovery of what it means to live by Christ’s power can be lost.
But, it is also true that you may act and look like a patient person on the outside and be in utter turmoil on the inside. Some people cannot hide their impatience even if they tried. You can discern most people’s body language and facial expressions to identify whether they are patient or impatient.
Dangerous results happen when using acting abilities in order to appear patient. If you act patient long enough, you will begin to believe that you are a patient person. Instead of relying on God’s Spirit of patience, you settle for the lesser quality of acting. Do this long enough and you become blind to your blindness. Training yourself to act patiently may be good, but it is not as great as walking in the Spirit of patience. The Spirit helps you to be a patient person, not act like a patient person.
The real power of patience is the person of Jesus Christ living in a believer. Living in a born again believer is the most patient person I know–the person of Christ. He places His Spirit in the believer and gives him/her the ability to be patient in all the appropriate situations.”
This leads me back to our need to seek God first. He is the Source of our patience. He gives the Holy Spirit to help us become patient. He helps us to see and remove our pride. We simply must seek Him first, no matter what we are trying to do.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Where and how do you see pride being expressed as impatience?
How are you struggling to be patient with God and His timing?
How do you struggle with being patient with others? How does this come out?
What situations are you experiencing that test your patience?
How are you patient or impatient with yourself?
How can you invite the Spirit to play an active, daily role in living out the patience of Jesus?