Progress in Patience

Ready:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.” – Colossians 3:12-13

Set:

Have you ever been tempted to pray something like this: “Lord, give me patience, and give it to me now”? Coaching at any level often requires patience. As an athlete, staying the course of development or waiting for your opportunity to compete takes patience. Patience is needed by both coach and athlete and yet for most of us, being patient can be challenging.

As God through His Spirit is growing us in spiritual maturity, how we live will be increasingly marked the fruit of the Spirit: qualities listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Patience is one of these qualities. How do we respond to the Spirit’s work to grow us in patience? Colossians 3:12-13 points to three aspects of making progress in patience:

1. Be secure in our identity.

We may think that our impatience is caused by the failure of others to do what they’re supposed to do in a timely way, but this only accounts for what’s happening at a superficial level. At the root of impatience is a lack of security about our identity. This insecurity causes us to look to others for our value—relying on them to do what we want for us when we want it. In Colossians 3:12, Paul reminds us of what’s true about our identity when our faith is in Christ. We’re chosen by God to be part of His people through what Christ has done, we’re made holy by the work of Christ, and we’re dearly loved as demonstrated by Christ’s sacrifice. When we’re secure in this identity, we no longer need others to meet our agenda in order for us to feel better about ourselves.

2. Respond to others as God does.

The other qualities listed in addition to patience are significant for growth in patience. Compassion, kindness, humility and gentleness are expressions of recognizing that those around us are individuals who are loved by God—despite their flaws that tempt us to be impatient with them. Just as God loves us and treats us with compassion, kindness and gentleness despite our sins and flaws, we humbly do this for others. Patience is a product of seeing and loving people as God does.

3. Give people time and space to grow.

Paul follows the directive toward patience by instructing us to bear with each other and forgive each other. This is about giving people time and space to continue to grow rather being impatient anytime they make a mistake. Remember, God is patient and forgiving with us. This doesn’t mean we don’t address things in others that need to be corrected. But as we do so, we can also affirm them as individuals and patiently give them the needed time and space to grow.

Go:

1. In what areas are you currently struggling with a lack of patience?

2. Through the Spirit’s work, how can you apply the three aspects of growth in patience in these areas?

Workout:

Overtime: