Sinclair Ferguson

Not being patient with others is not a virtue.

It's a blemish because it means I'm not being like the Lord Jesus.

Now, I know you may be thinking, but what about this situation?

What about that situation?

Isn't there righteous anger?

Well, yes, of course that's true.

But what Paul is speaking about here is our basic day-to-day instinct and reaction to people and also to situations that are challenging or frustrating.

And you know what we want to say, don't you?

It's this.

Actually, you're not really a very patient person at all.

You're an impatient person whose patience level has never really been tested.

It's been tested now, and you've just failed the test.

And this leads to what I think is a very important thought, that patience can only develop through being in situations likely to create impatience in us.

So long as our patience is never tested, it never grows.

So when Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is patience, it's not as though the Spirit gives us a permanent commodity.

It is that the Spirit works in us, transforming us, gradually, perhaps even gently and slowly but surely, bringing us into situations that might cause us to be impatient.

But as he works in our lives and we reflect on how wonderfully patient the Lord has been with us, we find that we are able to take the strain and patience begins to develop.

We won't be coming back to this until next week, which means there's a couple of days before then when your patience and perhaps my patience is going to be tested.

But let's pray together that by God's grace, it will also grow.

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