IMPATIENT, IMPATIENCE 
AND PATIENCE
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 SEVERAL YEARS AGO while this writer was in Puerto Rico he was impressed by the beautiful wild flowers along the roadsides (and in the rain forest). They were what is commonly seen in the States in flower beds and known as impatiens (or "impatients"). As he was taking pictures of the flowers, jokingly this writer said to the person with him, "Stand in front of the flowers so I can remember their name."
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 Impatient! Perhaps all of us have been that way at times in our lives. But some people seem to be blessed less with patience than others. The man hasty with words is an impatient man. Young people have a tendency to be less patient because they have a limited concept of time, not having lived as long. Although many older people have learned patience, some of them are very impatient (and especially with young people). They think that others should know what it has taken them a lifetime to learn. Someone said, "I get very impatient with impatient people" (but what does that say about the person who said this?).
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 Many in the Bible have left us an example of patience. In them the meaning of the word translated "patience" (and sometimes "endure") is exemplified. The two corresponding stems of the word thus rendered mean under + to stay. Job comes to the forefront as an example of patience. James wrote, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job…" (James 5:11). The writer of the book of Hebrews admonishes his readers to be "followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12-15). Then he tells them that Abraham "after he had patiently endured… obtained the promise." When we mention Moses, it brings to mind a man of meekness (Numbers 12:3). But he surely must have been a man of patience in being able to "put up" with the children of Israel all those years in the wilderness.
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 Preachers and leaders in the Lord’s church must be men of patience (and especially in dealing with church problems). Paul told Timothy that "the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient…" (2 Timothy 2:24). Later in this epistle Timothy was charged in no uncertain terms to "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort…" But how was this to be done? With "all longsuffering and doctrine" (4:2). To the Corinthians in asserting how he and his fellow workers were "in all things approving ourselves [themselves] as the ministers of God," "in much patience" heads the long list that follows. When patience is absent, it can cause problems in human relations. The church is full of all kinds of people with all kinds of backgrounds at different levels of spiritual development. Then most church problems didn’t get that way over night, and they are not going to be solved that fast either (but they need to be dealt with). A child’s tooth that is loose can be pulled easily without any problems, but to pull it before it is ready may cause complications.
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 Patience is an absolute necessity in being a successful Christian. The farmer must have patience to wait for the fruit of his labors (James 5:7). The Lord explained the parable of the sower, saying "the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience" (Luke 8:15). The writer of Hebrews admonished his readers, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise" (Hebrews 10:35,36). Likewise Hebrews 12:1 continues the admonition, "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." The Christian race is not a sprint, but is a cross-country race that covers a lifetime. We must patiently condition and gauge ourselves. Otherwise we will burn out and drop by the wayside.
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 The great underlying impetus of patience is hope. That is what sustained Abraham as he patiently endured to finally inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12-20). It is the track that the Christian life runs upon. It is the anchor of the soul. We can "put up" with about anything, if we know things are going to get better (and they are for the Christian, eternally better). We are in a world that "groaneth and travaileth in pain," and being a part of it, we also "groan within ourselves, waiting for…the redemption of our body." We are presently trapped in this body of sin and death, and how nice it will be to be clothed with the new and eternal body that is not subject to pain and death! Our present imperfect situation actually makes hope become alive and helps us patiently endure. Read Romans 8:18-25. The Thessalonians had experienced this "patience of hope" in their tribulations (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Read Romans 5:1-5. We are conditioned for the long pull. And patience, tapped into this great hope, finds its outworkings in all of our human relationships.
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