The Fruit of Spirit-empowered Patience is Sweet

Galatians 5:22–23 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Men and women have a variety of ways for their hearts, controlled by the flesh, to manifest themselves. These include “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” (Galatians 5:19-21) Such behaviors are the product of short-sighted, self-centered and worldly gratifications. To one degree or another, all those outside of Jesus are slaves of their nerve-endings.

When the Spirit of God gives life to the heart of the unregenerate, God begins to produce fruit in and through the lives of His people for their good and for His glory. One of the sections Paul defines of the singular “fruit” of the Spirit is patience.

What is the character of Spirit-wrought patience? The word patience carries the meaning of what results from suffering over an extended period or from the steadfast endurance of affliction. Because it comes by the hand of God, we see Him as the Architect of all that forms us as followers of Jesus in life. However, we should not think that just by going through suffering we will automatically develop patience. As God’s people biblically believe, humbly pray and selflessly surrender to God’s purpose through hardships, the Spirit of God intently fashions their lives for God’s glory.

No one of sound mind enjoys the duress of enduring difficulty in the short-term. Take heart; though the path of God’s people is one of agonizing sorrow and pain, Holy Spirit-empowered patience eventually brings about well-seasoned displays of goodness and beauty that are forged no other way. Press on, child of God. The pathway of affliction is bitter, but the fruit of Spirit-empowered patience is sweet.