Love is Patient
When we moved into this old house twelve and a half years ago, we pried off paneling, ripped up carpet, and scraped off hardened carpet pad. Skilled workmen have built shelves, repaired plumbing, replaced some windows, and installed central heat and air. During that twelve and a half years, Ray and I have looked forward to the year when the necessities would be close enough to done that we could afford to have someone paint the interior.
We thought last year would be the year, but From Adam to Us kept us so busy that we just couldn’t fit it in. Ray wanted very much for 2016 to be the year. In August I learned that a friend at church is a very experienced painter and that she wanted a part-time or temporary job. She began week before last.
On one of the first days she was here, Ray came to me and said with a sigh of joy and relief, “Our house is being painted.”
Chrystal comes to our house almost every morning and spends about five hours with a paintbrush or roller in her hand. Her work is perfection. She is happy; Ray and I are very happy.
In the scheme of life, patience about paint is a very small matter. Patience itself, on the other hand, is a very big matter.
God is patient.
The Lord is not slow about His promise,
as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you,
not wishing for any to perish
but for all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
God gives us patience.
But the fruit of the Spirit is. . . patience . . .
Galatians 5:22
Patience helps us when relationships with others are hard — as most of the close ones are, don’t you think?
Love is patient . . .
1 Corinthians 13:4
We urge you, brethren, . . .
be patient with everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:14
The Lord’s bond-servant
must not be quarrelsome,
but be kind to all, able to teach,
patient when wronged . . .
2 Timothy 2:24
Patience helps us to understand things we don’t understand.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Psalm 37:7
Patience pleases God.
For what credit is there if,
when you sin and are harshly treated,
you endure it with patience?
But if when you do what is right and suffer for it
you patiently endure it,
this finds favor with God.
1 Peter 2:20
I don’t know what you are being patient about. Maybe you are waiting for a child to learn to read or add or diagram — or to obey. Maybe you have prayed for a wayward child or brother or sister or parent for decades. In your patience, remember: God is faithful.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
Psalm 40:1
Endurance is a close cousin to patience. Think about what happened when Jesus endured:
In the days of His flesh,
He offered up both prayers and supplications
with loud crying and tears
to the One able to save Him from death,
and He was heard because of His piety.
Although He was a Son,
He learned obedience from the things
which He suffered.
And having been made perfect,
He became to all those who obey Him
the source of eternal salvation,
being designated by God as a high priest
according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:7-9