Galatians 5:22 – Patience

Now the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.

Joy and peace are the first qualities of (agape) love as “the fruit of the Spirit”. They form the basis of all the qualities that Paul mentions afterwards. He who has true joy and peace in the heart knows the other qualities also because they flow from them. Could one know joy and peace, and be impatient at the same time? Impossible, since patience is precisely an expression of peace in circumstances in which one is forced to wait. Not ‘being able to wait’, but to undergo this in calmness and peace, that is patience. Patience is only possible (and logical too!) when it is carried by the conviction that GOD will in due time realize what He promises and have every confidence in it.

We know many examples from Scripture of people who have shown this patience. Think of Joseph whom God had promised to become king. Many years passed in which nothing looked like this promise would come true. But in all these circumstances Joseph knew a deep peace because of the trust in GOD who would fulfill his word (anyhow!). Perfectly timed!

Delen: