May Devotional: Fruit of the Spirit- Patience

May Devotional: Galatians 5:22-23-Fruits of the Spirit: Patience            

 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!- Galatians 5:22-23

         This month, as we dive into the fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23- we come to the fruit of Patience.  Friends I am not going to sugarcoat this-This is one of the hardest for me to work through and carry out.  We have so many distractions and situations trying to shorten our patience everyday. This is one that I think Satan knows is very hard for us and so he will just grind us down. Sometimes he can accomplish it in a short time- sometimes he just uses time to his advantage to continually beat us down until our patience is worn thin. What frustrates me the most- is I tend to give the ones closest to me the shortest amount of patience.  The people in my life I love most get the shortest fuse from me. Why is that? I think one reason is because a lot of times I find myself trying to “work” the problem by myself- this will only produce works of the flesh. Shawn‘s patience is not Holy Spirit patience.  So I need to remember to remain in Christ and let the Holy Spirit produce the fruit in me he wants to produce.  I think to be able to carry this out to the best of our ability- We need to trace back to a previous devotional on the fruit of the spirit of Love. I said before I heard a scholar say, “That if you break down the 9 fruits listed -really there is only 8 because Love is the Godly virtue that brings out the other 8.  This means that you will only be as patient as you are loving.”  Let’s remember the Greek word for patience is Makrothumas- makro means long/large and Thumas is where we get the word thermometer- it means dynamic/blow up.  So Holy Spirit patience means that we have a long fuse before we blow up.  Other translations instead of using the word patience- It uses the word longsuffering. This means that we are not quickly annoyed, or irritated.  That we have thick skin, that we can actually recognize the issue and not let it frustrate us, but work through it. I think a great verse to remember is in the book of James.  It says in James 1:19- “Know this my brothers, Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.”  

One way to definitely increase your patience is by listening.  By listening- we are not focused on ourselves, but the other people we are interacting with.  These people might be testing our patience and when you listen- you get to hear all the issues and you get to notice the way they are acting and truly get a gauge on that person.  This will allow you to truly understand what they are going through and help them through it. I think when you are quick to listen- it also will just intrinsically make you be slower to speak, which then will make you be slower to become angry.  Too many times in my life I had that short fuse. I blew up and got angry, and if I would’ve just waited even a minute, everything would’ve been put in perspective a lot more.  I would’ve realized it wasn’t that big of an issue and I wouldn’t have become so upset.

This is true even with my own children. I love my children more than anything on this planet. I have never felt more guilty than when I have a short fuse and get angry instead of loving to them.  David Guzik brings up a great point- “We need to remember God‘s patience with us”  How often in God‘s eyes are we the little kids in our lives that we have a short fuse with?  What if God had that short fuse with us and lashed out on us the way we do with our loved ones- just writing this makes me start to feel so convicted and sad.  But even that is Satan trying to fill me with lies.  Remember, there is no guilt in the gospel- We are imperfect humans and we have this amazing instruction manual the Bible given to us by the living God.  So let’s use this Bible- memorize scripture to help us keep things in perspective- this will help us combat the difficult situations in our lives when we are able to recite scripture out of memory.  This is our tool here on earth to be more like Christ and to spread that love and patience to the people in our lives. Let’s remember in a time of trial how much that is a time of testimony to show people that we don’t let temporary problems of this world irritate us or anger us.  Instead- we are able to keep a clear mind and show patience in even the most difficult situations because we know and love Jesus Christ.

In the book of James, it says in verses 1:2-4,  “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.”   We are going to have trials of all kinds. This should not surprise us- and these trials are what will make us more like Christ.  Later on in the book of James, he tells us plain and simple how to carry this out. James says in verses 1:22-25, “22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

This means we need to look into God‘s word “to do” something about it. Let’s be a doer of the works. I heard a pastor say-“That my walk with God is useless if it doesn’t translate into the way I live and treat others.”  People will notice when we handle difficult situations with patience. They will want to know where we get the strength from and that is our true chance to share the gospel and spread the love of Jesus Christ.

Our job as firefighters gives us more opportunities than anyone to demonstrate patience.  Not only with the “patients” we go on, but also our crew members.  Maybe it’s not about witnessing to that homeless person at 2 AM who is covered with fecal matter all over them- on so many drugs that it has fried their brain- but maybe by the way you treat that person at that time- it will be such a testimony to your crew members, and you will be witnessing to them how we treat all the children of God.  And of course, hopefully we can reach that homeless person as well.  Maybe if you have a firefighter who is struggling and making frequent mistakes- maybe it’s because we need to be showing them more patience and letting them not feel like they’re being attacked, but that they are loved and we are rooting for them to be successful. What a testimony that will be to all people in the fire service!  So that we can spread the love of Jesus and bring more to Christ.

So in closing, who in your life is getting a short fuse and you need to plug in to the power of the Holy Spirit- so that you can give them a long fuse.  I think I am so Blessed- to have all these opportunities- every day as a firefighter- to show the love and patience of Jesus.  We get this strength from the Holy Spirit. So Brothers and Sisters- Let’s really focus on patience this month.

Reflection:

1.      Who in your life needs a longer fuse?  Once you have identified those people- How will you accomplish this?

2.     How are you at listening?  How will you be a better listener to the people in your life? 

3.     Do you think Patience in the fire service can be regarded as weakness?  What are ways/tactics to show it is not?