Advent: Patience
Do you find patience easy? In the Praise and Pray service last night we prayed for our friends and loved ones who don’t yet know Jesus. We were reminded of the importance of being patient and persistent in prayer, especially in these matters. It isn’t easy for many of us.
Instead of patience I am far too often filled with frustration. I’ve quoted my mum’s words many times: Patience is a virtue never found in Ben.’ Over the years I have grown in patience so it is at least sometimes found in Ben, but I still find it difficult. It is testament to God’s sense of humour that he has me working in a large (and therefore slow) institution! Or rather, perhaps he has me working in the church because I am not naturally patient. In Bruce Almighty God – otherwise known as Morgan Freeman – says, ‘If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does He give them the opportunity to be patient?’ There is definitely some truth in that!
The Bible has a lot to say about patience, so we don’t need to rely on Hollywood. In Romans 12.12 Paul writes: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Faith and hope are more famously linked with love at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 – here Paul links them with patience, and I think they can help us learn and grow in patience.
Christian hope isn’t wishful thinking or the British way of saying ‘No’ (for example, ‘I hope to visit soon’). Christian hope is strong, because it is founded on God’s character, on what he has already done for us in Jesus. Christian hope is more like the anticipation I reflected on last week: confidence in God’s promises, looking forward to what will happen because of what has happened. That’s why Paul says ‘be joyful in hope’: when we grasp something of who God is, what he has done and what he will do, it brings a deep joy that lasts even through difficulty – which helps us be patient as we wait for what is to come.
Then Paul says ‘be faithful in prayer’. Yesterday morning I spoke about Daniel and how he stayed faithful to God in prayer despite serious opposition, how he made time to pray three times a day despite running an empire that stretched from Europe to India. I hope the Prayer Course this term has helped us think through what prayer is, given us some ideas and tools for growing in prayer – but most of all a renewed desire to pray. Prayer is so much more than a list of worthy things we need or want. Prayer lifts our eyes to God. It reminds us we depend on him. It helps us grow in our relationship with him. And it helps us be patient as we know, love and trust the God we spend time with every day.
This Advent, can we grow in patience? Perhaps through a renewed hope and confidence in God’s promises, in who he is, in what he has already done? Perhaps by a renewed commitment to be faithful in prayer? I am renewing my commitment to be faithful in prayer – hold me to it! But what will you do? I suggest asking someone else to help hold you to account once you’ve decided. Not in an aggressive way, but simply to ask how you’re doing.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.