| Back to Home Page | Back to
Book Index |
Patience
Patience
Patience
is letting your motor idle when you feel like stripping the gears. ── Michael
P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
Patience
on the part of young Clyde Tombaugh is what led him finally to discover the
planet Pluto. Astronomers had already calculated a probable orbit for this
“suspected” heavenly body
which they had never seen. Tombaugh took up the
search in March 1929. He examined scores of telescopic photographs
each
showing tens of thousands of star images in pairs under the blink comparator
or dual microscope. It often took three days to scan a single pair of
photographs. It was exhausting
eye-cracking work
in Tombaugh’s own words
“brutal
tediousness.”The search went on for months. Star by star
Tombaugh
examined twenty million images. Finally
on February 18
1930
as he was
blinking a pair of photographs in the constellation Gemini
“I suddenly came
upon the image of Pluto!” It was the most dramatic astronomic discovery in
nearly one hundred years and it was made possible by patience. ── Michael P.
Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
No one
treated Lincoln with more contempt than did Edwin Stanton
who denounced
Lincoln’s policies and called him a “low cunning clown.” Stanton had nicknamed
him “the original gorilla” and said that explorer Paul Du Chaillu was a fool to
wander about in Africa trying to capture a gorilla
when he could have found
one so easily in Springfield
Illinois. Lincoln said nothing in reply. In fact
he made Stanton his war minister because Stanton was the best man for the job.
He treated him with every courtesy. The years wore on.
The night
came when an assassin’s bullet struck down Lincoln in a theatre. In a room off
to the side where Lincoln’ body was taken
stood Stanton that night. As he
looked down on the silent
rugged face of the President
Stanton said through
his tears
“There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.” The
patience of love had conquered in the end. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
Hudson
Taylor would tell those who wanted to be missionaries to China that there were
three indispensable requirements for a missionary:
1.Patience.
2.Patience.
3.Patience.
──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
A teacher
had just finished putting the last pair of galoshes on her
first-graders-thirty-two pairs in all. The last little girl said
“You know
what
teacher? These aren’t my galoshes.”
The
teacher removed them from the girl’s feet. Then the little girl continued
“They are my sister’s
and she let me wear them.” The teacher quietly put them
back on her pupil.
Now
that’s patience! ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
Chrysostom
said that a patient man is one who
having the resources and opportunity to
avenge himself
chooses to refrain from the exercise of these. ── Michael P.
Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Patience
Patience is letting your
motor idle when you feel like stripping the gears.
Patience
Patience on the part of
young Clyde Tombaugh is what led him finally to discover the planet Pluto.
Astronomers had already calculated a probable orbit for this “suspected”
heavenly body
which they had never seen. Tombaugh took up the search in March
1929. He examined scores of telescopic photographs
each showing tens of
thousands of star images in pairs under the blink comparator
or dual
microscope. It often took three days to scan a single pair of photographs. It
was exhausting
eye-cracking work
in Tombaugh’s own words
“brutal
tediousness.” The search went on for months. Star by star
Tombaugh examined
twenty million images. Finally
on February 18
1930
as he was blinking a pair
of photographs in the constellation Gemini
“I suddenly came upon the image of
Pluto!” It was the most dramatic astronomic discovery in nearly one hundred
years and it was made possible by patience.
Patience
No one treated Lincoln with
more contempt than did Edwin Stanton
who denounced Lincoln’s policies and
called him a “low cunning clown.” Stanton had nicknamed him “the original
gorilla” and said that explorer Paul Du Chaillu was a fool to wander about in
Africa trying to capture a gorilla
when he could have found one so easily in
Springfield
Illinois.
The
night came when an assassin’s bullet struck down
Patience
Hudson Taylor would tell
those who wanted to be missionaries to China that there were three
indispensable requirements for a missionary:
1.Patience.
2.Patience.
3.Patience.
Patience
A teacher had just finished
putting the last pair of galoshes on her first-graders-thirty-two pairs in all.
The last little girl said
“You know what
teacher? These aren’t my galoshes.”
The
teacher removed them from the girl’s feet. Then the little girl continued
“They are my sister’s
and she let me wear them.” The teacher quietly put them
back on her pupil.
Now
that’s patience!
Patience
Chrysostom said that a
patient man is one who
having the resources and opportunity to avenge himself
chooses to refrain from the exercise of these.
“Well
take the First World
War
” said his father. “That got started when
Immediately his wife interrupted
him: “Tell the boy the truth. It began because somebody was murdered.” The
husband drew himself up with an air of superiority and snapped back
“Are you
answering the question
or am I?” Turning her back upon him in huff
the wife
walked out of the room and slammed the door as hard as she could.
When the dishes stopped rattling
in the cupboard
and uneasy silence followed
broken at length by the son when
he said
“Daddy
you don’t have to tell me any more; I know now!”
The purposes of God often develop
slowly because His grand designs are never hurried. The great New England
preacher Phillips Brooks was noted for his poise and quiet manner. At times
however
even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a
friend saw him feverishly pacing the floor like a caged lion. "What's the
trouble
Mr. brooks?" he asked.
"The trouble is that I'm in a
hurry
but God isn't!" Haven't we felt the same way many times?
Some of the greatest missionaries of
history devotedly spread the seed of God's Word and yet had to wait long
periods before seeing the fruit of their efforts. William Carey
for example
labored 7 years before the first Hindu convert was brought to Christ in Burma
and Adoniram Judson toiled 7 years before his faithful preaching was rewarded.
In western Africa
it was 14 years before one convert was received into the
Christian church. In New Zealand
it took 9 years; and in Tahiti
it was 16
years before the first harvest of souls began.
Thomas a Kempis described that kind of
patience in these words: "He deserves not the name of patient who is only
willing to suffer as much as he thinks proper
and for whom he pleases. The
truly patient man asks (nothing) from whom he suffers
(whether) his superior
his equal
or his inferior...But from whomever
or how much
or how often wrong
is done to him
he accepts it all as from the hand of God
and counts it
gain!"
Our Daily Bread.
True patience is waiting without
worrying.
C. Swindoll
Growing Strong
p.
124.
"Patience serves as a protection
against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as
the cold increases it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you
must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs
and they will then be
powerless to vex your mind."
Leonardo da Vinci.
Patience is a virtue
Possess it if you can.
Found seldom in a woman
Never in a man.
Source Unknown.
To those Christians who are always in
a hurry
here's some good advice from the 19th-century preacher A.B. Simpson:
"Beloved
have you ever thought
that someday you will not have anything to try you
or anyone to vex you again?
There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of
patience
forbearance
and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things
it must be now." Yes
each day affords countless opportunities to learn
patience. Let's not waste them.
Commenting on our need for this
virtue
M.H. Lount has said
"God's best gifts come slowly. We could not
use them if they did not. Many a man
called of God to...a work in which he is
pouring out his life
is convinced that the Lord means to bring his efforts to
a successful conclusion. Nevertheless
even such a confident worker grows
discouraged at times and worries because results do not come as rapidly as he
would desire. But growth and strength in waiting are results often greater than
the end so impatiently longed for. Paul had time to realize this as he lay in
prison. Moses must have asked
'Why?' many times during the delays in Midian
and in the wilderness. Jesus Himself experienced the discipline of delay in His
silent years before His great public ministry began."
God wants us to see results as we work
for Him
but His first concern is our growth. That's why He often withholds
success until we have learned patience. The Lord teaches us this needed lesson
through the blessed discipline of delay.
Our Daily Bread.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "run
with endurance" the race set before us. George Matheson wrote
"We
commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that
guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be
harder -- the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief
to be
quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune
implies a great strength; but I know
of something that implies a strength greater still: it is the power to work
under stress; to have a great weight at your heart and still run; to have a
deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily tasks. It is a
Christ-like thing! The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise
our patience
not in the sickbed but in the street." To wait is hard
to
do it with "good courage" is harder!
Our Daily Bread
April 8.
According to a traditional Hebrew
story
Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man
weary from age and journey
coming toward him. Abraham rushed out
greeted him
and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man's feet and gave
him food and drink.
The old man immediately began eating
without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him
"Don't you
worship God?"
The old traveler replied
"I
worship fire only and reverence no other god."
When he heard this
Abraham became
incensed
grabbed the old man by the shoulders
and threw him out his his tent
into the cold night air.
When the old man had departed
God
called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied
"I forced him out because he did not worship you."
God answered
"I have suffered
him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one
night?"
Thomas Lindberg.
The Fruit Of The Spirit - Longsuffering
INTRODUCTION
1. In discussing "the fruit of the Spirit"
the nine graces listed in Ga 5:22-23 are often divided into three groups: a. The first group contains those graces which turns one's thought toward God... 1) Love (for love is of God) 2) Joy (for we rejoice in the Lord) 3) Peace (for from God comes the peace that surpasses understanding) b. The second group contains those graces that directs our attention to our fellow man... 4) Longsuffering 5) Kindness 6) Goodness c. The third group of graces refer more directly to oneself... 7) Faithfulness 8) Gentleness (meekness) 9) Self-control 2. Having examined those graces in the first group (love
joy
peace)
we now come to the first one in the second group... a. The grace is "longsuffering" ("patience" in the NASV) b. The Greek word is makrothumia 1) Literally
it means being "long-tempered" (the opposite of short-tempered) 2) It is defined as "patience
forbearance
longsuffering
slowness in avenging wrongs" (THAYER)
3) "Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish. It is the opposite of anger and is associated withmercy and is used of God." (VINE)
c. If God is longsuffering
we should not be surprised that those who "walk in the Spirit" are also longsuffering! [As we seek to work in conjunction with the Spirit of God to developHis fruit in our lives
it might be helpful to nurture longsuffering byrecalling some...] I. EXAMPLES OF LONGSUFFERING
A. THE LONGSUFFERING OF GOD... 1. God has been longsuffering toward man a. He was in the days of Noah - 1 Pe 3:20 b. He was in His dealings with the nation of Israel 16-21
c. And He is longsuffering today as well - 2 Pe 3:7-9; e.g.
1 Ti 1:15-16 2. The purpose of His longsuffering: a. That we might have salvation! - 2 Pe 3:15 b. That we might be led to repentance! - Ro 2:4 c. That those who fear Him and keep His commandments might delight in His lovingkindness
even though they have sinned - cf. Ps 103:8-18 B. THE LONGSUFFERING OF DAVID... 1. Is best seen in his dealings with King Saul a. Saul had made several attempts to kill David b. David had several opportunities to kill Saul 1) In the cave - 1 Sam 24:1-22 2) In the camp - 1 Sam 26:1-25 2. Out of respect for the Lord's anointed king (Saul)
David demonstrated the true meaning of longsuffering: "slownessin avenging wrongs"
[So from both God Himself
and one who was "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam 13:14) we learn what the quality of longsuffering
involves. Now let's consider its necessity in the life of the Christian...] II. THE NECESSITY OF LONGSUFFERING
A. NECESSARY IF WE WISH GOD TO BE LONGSUFFERING TO US... 1. As Jesus illustrated in "The Parable Of The Unmerciful Servant" (note particularly Mt 18:32-35)
2. Compare also the following verses: Co 3:12-13 a. Christ has forgiven us b. Therefore we must be longsuffering and willing to forgive one another! B. NECESSARY TO MAINTAINING THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT... 1. A task we face
in keeping with a walk that is worthy of our calling - Ep 4:1-3 2. Without longsuffering
the sins we commit against one another will quickly destroy the unity for which Christ died! C. NECESSARY FOR PREACHERS AND TEACHERS OF THE GOSPEL... 1. As Paul charged Timothy - 2 Ti 4:2 2. As Paul had demonstrated by example - 2 Ti 3:10 3. No servant of the Lord can faithfully correct those in opposition
without the quality of longsuffering (patience in the NKJV) - 2 Ti 2:24-26 [So to be "useful for the Master
prepared for every good work" (cf. 2 Ti 2:21) and even to ensure God's longsuffering toward us (cf. Mt
18:35) we need to develop the virtue of longsuffering. Here are a
couple of thoughts on how...] III. DEVELOPING LONGSUFFERING
A. THROUGH LOVE... 1. It is love that "suffers long" - cf. 1 Co 13:4-8a a. Unless we love those who have wronged us
there will not be sufficient motivation to bear with them b. Therefore love (active good will) is fundamental to being slow to avenge wrong 2. By growing in love (to remember how
cf. 1 Th 4:9; 1 Jn 3:16)
we will grow in patience! B. THROUGH PRAYER... 1. Paul evidently believed prayer would help the Colossians to have "all patience and longsuffering with joy" - Co 1:9-11 2. Certainly the God who is longsuffering (cf. Ps 145:8) will strengthen those who desire to be like Him! CONCLUSION
1. God has certainly revealed Himself to be longsuffering
as David wrote in his psalm: "But You
O Lord
are a God full of compassion
and gracious
Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." - Ps 86:15
2. For those who desire to be truly His children
and led by His Spirit
they will want to become like Him
as David wrote just a few verses before: "Teach me Your way
O Lord;