Patience
Saturday April 1, 2017
Many of us have struggled with addictive and destructive habits for a long time. We come into recovery because we are tired and worn out from the physical and emotional consequences of that lifestyle. We want the pain and discomfort to stop and go away as soon as possible. If that change is truly to become ours, we will need to develop the character quality of patience. In our addiction, we had long practiced choosing the easiest route to cover our pain. Now we must commit to taking the time and making the necessary effort, on a daily basis, to rebuild a new life.
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. (Hebrews 10:36 NLT)
Patience is both a gift from God and something that we learn to develop through practice. Patience has been described as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. A patient person is flexible, even-tempered, and willing to walk a path for a while, trusting that good will come to them if they stick to the plan.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. (Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Thessalonians 3:5 NLT)
To develop patience requires that we move out of our “comfort zone” over and over again because that’s the place of the “quick-fix,” “cutting corners,” “doing whatever it takes,” that, even though it’s familiar to us, is actually destroying our life and our relationships.
Only God is patient enough to love us and walk with us through all the twists and turns on the journey we need to take to develop patience. We are reassured that “God could and would if He were sought.”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have lived so long as a self-centered, impatient person. Forgive me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so I have both the desire and the strength to do whatever it takes to change. Amen
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