You want to hear a group of Christians groan? Mention patience. It’s the one fruit that everyone needs, but no one actually wants. It’s even a joke. “Don’t ask God for patience because He’ll make you miserable.”
Why is this fruit such a burden? Why is this one an ongoing struggle for most people? I’ve been praying about it, and I think it’s because patience is the one fruit that requires the most sacrifice. Patience is all about the other person.
More than any other fruit, patience demands that we set aside our time, plans, and wants for the benefit of someone else. When you lose your patience and snap at the slow clerk in the grocery line, it’s because she’s wasting your time. When your kindergartener is telling you a story, you get impatient because you’re trying to read the paper. You want the doctor to answer all your questions and give you a quality assessment, but not anyone else because that might eat into your appointment. So you fume in the waiting room and give the receptionist a hard time if it’s taking too long.
Think about the last time you really lost your patience. Examine your motives in that incident. What were you unwilling to sacrifice? Was it your time? Your attention? Your favorite television show? When you feel yourself losing it, try to remember that God wants us to love others more than ourselves and deny your wants for the good of another.
“…Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Phil 2:3,4)
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