Patience As a Fruit of the Spirit: Sermon Expositions – Dr. Aaron Perdue

Maybe you’ve heard sermons on patience with illustrations that scared you from praying for patience because they instilled the fear that God sends trials to develop patience. Thankfully, God is good and not the author of pain or bad things. God is for you and not against you, so you can count on His help. If you desire patience—or someone close to you desires it for you—relax because you can develop patience biblically by opening God’s Word and letting the Holy Spirit guide you. The Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity, is our helper and guide in all aspects of our Christian life, including the development of patience. By seeking His guidance and allowing Him to work in us, we can cultivate the patience that is a fruit of the Spirit.

How To Develop Patience Biblically

We find patience listed as a Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 (MEV), “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith.” Several other Bible versions use the word “longsuffering” for patience. While it might sound godlier to be longsuffering, the Amplified Bible adds insight into the biblical characteristic of patience: “But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” I love that insight into the importance of the choices we make while we wait. As a parent, I know my children can be bribed to wait for something, but that doesn’t mean they have the character trait of patience. As a parent, I hope to see my children develop patience as an inner quality that doesn’t depend on other people or rewards. Our Heavenly Father also desires His children to desire and produce this fruit in their lives.

How To Be Patient With God

We can be grateful that God is patient with us, but what about situations when we have trouble being patient with God? It may surprise you that God said to be patient with Him. Psalm 37:7
says, “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 brings wicked schemes to pass.” How are you acting while you wait for God’s answer? Do you worry and imagine every negative outcome? Faith is the secret ingredient to patience and believing that God is good and keeps His promises. When your faith takes hold of the promises of God, you know that God cannot break His promises. Every promise of God will happen on God’s timetable, not yours. Your faith in God gives you the patient endurance to praise God while you wait for His answer, and your praise actually reminds you of God’s greatness and ability to do the impossible. Your praise ushers in an atmosphere where you learn to be patient with God. As you patiently wait, you find the added benefit that your strength is renewed (Isaiah 40:31), and you come out stronger and closer to God.

What does it mean to be patient with someone? The Bible has an answer in 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love is patient.” When someone is motivated by love, it is much easier to practice patience. I find that my wife can ask me to spend time with her watching a movie that I don’t really like, but my love for her motivates me to patiently sit on the sofa with her and watch a chick flick. If I remember all the times God was patient with me because of His unconditional love, that motivates me to be patient with others.

Maybe the real question to be asked is, “How can I become more patient with others?” Often, when deadlines and pressures mount, we lose patience with others, and it can be over simple,
little things that shouldn’t bother us. One key I learned as I read through the New Testament is that several times it says that Jesus was “moved with compassion.” Jesus faced obstacles and was surrounded by sick and hurting people who made time demands on Him. Yet, when Jesus looked at them, He saw each of them as created in the image of God with worth and value. His eyes of love saw each person as they were designed to be, and He patiently took time to heal and to teach. Even when His closest disciples failed repeatedly to understand what He said,
Jesus continued to love and work with them. When people try my patience, I try to view them through the lens of Jesus’ eyes and ask myself, “How does Jesus view this person, and how can I participate in what Jesus wants to do in this person’s life?” This perspective shift helps me remember to value people and not get caught up in my own agenda or time schedule. I find a new level of patience with people comes through letting the Holy Spirit guide me to see people the way Jesus does.

If you want to better understand how patience is a Fruit of the Spirit, check out Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs. We believe that the Holy Spirit is given to believers and brings God’s power and revelation to our lives. The evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in a believer is seen through the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Come visit Charis Christian Center and learn more about the Holy Spirit and how God’s Word has the answers to all of life’s questions.