Have you ever prayed that God give you patience? Do you know what it means to have patience from God’s perspective? Are you ready to experience the challenges needed to learn to have the patience of God?
We have moments when we ask for patience. Often, it is just for the moment. Someone is doing something we don’t care for and we ask for the patience to get through it. Typically, that means we simply want patience for just a few moments, not a lasting patience.
The word patience Jesus uses in today’s passage and used in other places throughout the New Testament does not have a momentary meaning. It means to be long-suffering. In other words, the ability to withstand a challenge and remain in control for an extended period of time. It also means to maintain both internal and external control. We are to maintain self-control of our internal being and exhibit that control externally to others. Challenging? You bet!
But isn’t this the patience God shows toward us? He patiently waits for us to mature in our belief and following of His Son. If he had no patience, He would have destroyed all of us long ago. God has a goal to save us and continues to work through the happenings of this world to draw us to Him…patiently.
Today’s passage comes from the parable Jesus told of a king who had two servants who worked for him. One owed him money and begged the king to be patient with him and he would repay the king. The word used means he was asking the king to control himself and be long-suffering with the servant. The king agreed to do so. However, the servant would not do the same for his fellow servant. Sounds a lot like people in our world today, doesn’t it?
I pray we all learn self-control. I pray we learn to be long-suffering with our brothers and sisters. I pray each one of us learns to be patient with one another as God is patient with us. Learn self-control. Learn to be long-suffering. Learn to be patient. Know that God is being patient with you.
Matthew 18:26-27 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.”
Marty Pressey 