Patience And Perfection

The testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:3–4 NKJV

Writing to Christians who were suffering for their faith, James said, “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You, too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5:7–8 NIV; italics mine).

Patience is not simply a “teeth-clenched,” complacent endurance of a particular situation. It is an attitude of expectation. The farmer was able to stare at his seemingly barren ground with patience because he was assured that there would be results of his labors. He could have patience in his labors because there would be products of his labor.

And so it is in the spiritual realm. God can produce valuable qualities in our lives through the hurts and suffering we experience. We can suffer patiently, for our suffering will yield a spiritual harvest.

And we can suffer during this life patiently, for we know that in God’s perfect time His Son will return as the greatest reward for the waiting and working believer.

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

Our Father and our God, teach me the patience that Christ showed during His sufferings on earth. I want to endure the struggles of this life with joy and anticipation of things to come. Help me to continue in sweet fellowship with Jesus and to know His abiding peace and hope. Through Him I pray. Amen.

Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).