Sinclair Ferguson

We've been thinking all week about the fruit of the Spirit as Paul describes it in Galatians chapter 5, and I've been reading out the verses because that way, I hope, we'll memorize these wonderful words of the Apostle Paul almost without effort.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And so at the end of the week, we've come to the second triplet of these Spirit-nurtured graces, patience, kindness, and goodness.

And they do seem, don't you think, somehow or another, to belong together.

Patience.

The New Testament has two different Greek words that can be translated by our English word, patience.

The word Paul uses here is the word makrothumia.

It's a compound word from makros, which means long, long in time or long in space, far away, and thumos, which means anger or passion.

The Bible teaches us that God is patient.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, says Psalm 103.

The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

We sometimes speak about people who have a short fuse, and this word patience suggests that a Christian is someone whose fuse gets longer and longer and longer, even in the face of provocation.

And you can see where the motivation for this grace comes from, can't you?

It's because God has been so patient with us.

So as His children, we breathe in the family atmosphere and we learn by the Spirit to mimic Him.

And this brings a couple of thoughts to my mind.

One is that I've met professing Christians who have said quite openly and without embarrassment and almost with a touch of pride, I'm the kind of person who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

And you know, I always want to say three words.

Well, Jesus did.

And the darker side of me then wants to add, and you're one of those fools.