Great Pursuits: Chasing What Matters Most in LifeSample

Pursue Patience

When it comes to pursuing patience, there are three basic areas where it can be applied: promises, people, and persecution. 

In the New Testament we often find patience, along with love, listed in the same verse as faith. Of the many references where that can be found, at least four times, faith, love, and patience are found bundled together in the same verse (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:2; Revelation 2:19). They are the three cooperating powers when it comes to standing on the promises of God. 

Abraham and Sarah waited twenty-five years before they experienced the fulfillment of the promised child, Isaac. They “patiently endured” as they waited for God (Hebrews 6:11–15). Though God is absolutely faithful, His timetable is not always in sync with ours. He alone sees every cause, reaction, and result that occurs, both present and future. So in His wisdom, God “does everything at just the right time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ERV). Abraham obtained God’s promise through patient faith and the same is still true for believers today.

The next area where it is incredibly important to exercise and pursue patience is with people. We must be patient with people as we make allowances for them to change and grow. Ephesians 4:1–2 says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.”

The term longsuffering in verse 2 means “patience.” We are to give people room to grow, and as Scripture implores us, to bear with them and make allowances for them while they do. A good rule is to always treat others with the same patience and understanding that you would like to receive yourself.

The third area where we need to pursue patience is when we are persecuted or when we suffer for doing right and living right.

1 Peter 2:21–23 tell us, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” 

Sometimes when you obey your conscience and do what is right before God, you will suffer for it. That persecution or ill treatment may come from an employer, the government, or maybe even from your own family. Patience is required to entrust yourself to God in the face of persecution, as Christ did, and trust that in His perfect timing, He will set all things right.  

Action Step

You read how patience can be applied to promises, people, and persecution. Can you think of an example from your own life in each of those categories when patience was required? Maybe an instance where patience may still be required?