BE PATIENT
‘And bring forth fruit with patience.’
I want to take to-day the subject of patience, and the reverse, impatience.
I. In ordinary business affairs.—Impatience is the cause of probably the greatest number of business disasters. Too great a hurry to get rich entails unwise ventures, and very frequently failures. If a business is to be one that is built up on sound, firm lines, it must be of slow growth, there must be patience. We get an exact illustration of this in nature. That plant-life which, in the world of nature, grows with great rapidity, dies with equal rapidity; but that which is permanent, is the slow-growing, hard wood.
II. In religious life.—In things appertaining to the spiritual side of man’s nature, this patience is essential. To some extent, I think, this is recognised; but I want to show you that patience occupies, or should occupy, a much larger space in our religious life than most of us think.
(a) If we want to cure a bad habit, to conquer, by God’s help, a besetting sin, it is necessary to have patience. Any disease of long standing takes a long time to get rid of, and we have the requisite patience for the healing of the disease of the body.
(b) In working for others patience is needed. People so soon despair because they are not able to see results. That is because they have not learned the necessary lesson that there must be patience to let good work grow. How foolish our despair is, when we call ourselves by the name of Christians, when we profess to draw our inspiration from Jesus, and to regard Him as our Teacher and Leader.
(c) In praying for others. We do not see any result, we do not see any improvement. And many people give up praying because they have not found any result to their prayers. They know it must be God’s will to grant such prayers, and it becomes a trial to their faith when they are not answered. Patience, to let God’s things grow, that is the reply. You may never even live to see the fruit, but you may be perfectly sure that such prayers are answered, and produce their results.
III. In matters of faith.—People do not always realise that patience is needed in matters of faith. All my hearers are probably in the habit of saying the Apostles’ Creed. You begin, ‘I believe,’ and I expect, if you are thinkers, from time to time the thought flashes across your minds, ‘Here am I saying “I believe.” What do I mean? Do I really believe at all? Do I believe in such a sense that it has no effect upon my life?’ And then, if we are patient, if we understand that faith, as everything else that is valuable in this world, must be a plant of slow growth, we shall study, read, think, pray. But if we are not patient, we shall do what a good many people do when they start thinking, and probably for the first time in their life think about matters of faith, realise that what they imagined they believed they only accepted because they had never considered it, and then they say, ‘I do not believe.’ That is impatience. How can we imagine that if it takes so much time to learn the things of this world, it should not take any time to learn the things of God?
—Rev. H. G. Hills.
Illustrations
(1) ‘To learn to wait is, perhaps, the hardest thing we can be set to do. We are naturally disposed to do just the reverse. We would wish to get rid of temptations and troubles at once. We would wish to realise blessings and enjoyments now. We do not bear our trials patiently. We fret under them, and often think at the bottom of our hearts that we are unkindly treated in having so many. Now this isn’t being Christ-like; and we should all wish to be like Jesus Christ. We must bring forth fruit “in patience,” or we shall, perhaps, bring forth none at all.’
(2)
‘God doth not bid thee wait
To disappoint at last;
A golden promise fair and great
In precept-mould is cast.
Soon shall the morning gild
The dark horizon-rim,
Thy heart’s desire shall be fulfilled:
Wait patiently for Him.’