Patience

Journey through James: 5:7-8

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. — James 5:7-8

Patience is difficult. In general, we do not like to wait. I thought about this the other day as I was waiting for a piece of bread to pop out of the toaster as toasted bread -- and it seemed to be taking a while. Granted, we still have the same toaster we received as a wedding gift over 20 years ago. I am unsure if toaster technology has advanced much in the last two decades; but if it has, it has not been enough to inspire us to buy a new one. While waiting for the toast, I began to think about how people got toast before toasters or ovens. I realized that something I take for granted likely took a lot of work in times past. While I may be “old” in the eyes of some, I do not predate toasters. 

Why do I say all of this? Patience is not something that we come by easily. We can get impatient about small and seemingly trivial things. This has always been an issue. James encourages us to be patient. We are not just to be patient about specific items, but we should be characterized as patient people. James tells us that we need to be patient until Jesus returns. This can be hard to comprehend because God’s Word gives us commands that demand urgency. How do we balance patience with urgency? 

James gives us a beautiful example of how these things work together -- farmers. Farmers have to exhibit patience each year. They begin by preparing their fields for planting and then plant the seed at the appropriate time. And as we look out at the fields today, we see farmers harvesting their crops. They had to patiently wait for months for the crops to grow and produce. However, as we all know, farmers don’t plant in the spring and then take the summer off while they wait for the crops to grow. Crops have to be watered, weeded, and cared for. Throughout the growing season, farmers have urgent and important tasks they have to complete. However, during this time of hard work, they also have to patiently wait for the crops to yield fruit. 

In the same way, we need to have patience as we wait for Jesus’ return. We should work urgently for the Lord yet also realize that our hard work will not cause Him to return any sooner. We need to establish our hearts with this truth. We need to be grounded in the truth of God’s Word. We need to have our hearts grounded and established so that we can withstand the trials that will come our way as we wait for the Lord’s return. When we are tempted to be overwhelmed or impatient, we can look to the farmers and be reminded that we should be patient for the Lord. Living in Iowa, we can be reminded of this truth every day.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.— Colossians 2:6-7