The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Virtue of Patience"
"The longer one walks with the Lord, the longer he knows how incredibly patient God has been."
Some say that patience is a virtue. It is. A virtue of God.
"The fruit of the Spirit is… longsuffering" (Galatians 5:22).
"But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Psalm 86:15).
One only has to briefly contemplate the history of the human race and our own personal history to know how amazingly patient God is, and how His longsuffering determination directs His heart and actions toward us. We thus learn patience by learning Him, as it were, in the light of Scripture, and in the light of His enduring faithfulness discovered along the pathways of our lives. "Thou hast been my help… Thou art my help… I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalm 63:7; 40:17; 121:1).
The longer one walks with the Lord, the longer he knows how incredibly patient God has been. We could all be so much further down the path of righteousness with Him, even as the Apostle Paul declared of all, "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2). This is true of the most godly among us, no less than the least faithful. Indeed, those who faithfully walk with the Lord most realize how little, in real terms, they have availed themselves of the presence and working of God. They look into his heart and contemplate His ongoing determination with wonder, praising Him for keeping His nail-pierced hands on the plow when any lesser Lord would have long ago given up seeking to cultivate a harvest of righteous fruit. Of course, such ones shine the most brightly among us because they most absorb and reflect the light of God's wondrous patience. "Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience" (James 5:10).
Discovering our Lord's virtues forms and informs the very reason for our existence. The realization of His longsuffering patience leads us to our knees and faces in wonder, and then lifts us up to empower our own journey of enduring faithfulness and determination. Paul wrote that beholding the Lord's glory changes us "into the same image, from glory to glory" (II Corinthians 3:18). Moreover, His Spirit's presence within us enables our ability to bear "the fruit of… longsuffering" as we trust and submit to the Lord Jesus. Patience is indeed a virtue, a sublime quality that innately exists in God's character, and will be revealed in our own as He reveals Himself unto us and within us in the wonder of His glorious faithfulness.
"Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus."
(Romans 15:5)
Weekly Memory Verse
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:16)
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