The Patience of God

Is it possible for the world to extend patience while living outside of Christ? Sure it is! Just not in the manner that God extends patience.

When Paul encourages those of us who live inside of Christ to walk by the Spirit of God in patience in Galatians 5:22 (which we have been digesting throughout this year), Paul speaks as if this type of patience is in stark contrast from the "patience" that we encounter from the world.

Just a few verses before this, Paul explains what a life that bears the works of the flesh looks like, as opposed to a life that bears fruit of the Holy Spirit. Within these earlier verses, Paul lists out a 14 specific works of the flesh that directly oppose the fruit of God's Spirit. Let's see how each of the works of the flesh listed in verses 19-21, contradict the divine patience found only through God:

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality & orgies
Sexual sins are works of the flesh that display a lack of Godly patience in that they showcase humanities inability to patiently endure temptations of sexual cravings when left to our own will-power. But when a person walks in the Spirit, divine patience leads a person to endure these passions and cravings in order to save physical intimacy for the God-ordained context of marriage between one man and one woman.

Sorcery

Sorcery is a unique work of the flesh that oppose Godly patience in that it tempts a person to try and take supernatural "powers" into our own hands without relying on the Lord of all that is supernatural. But when a person walks in the Spirit, divine patience leads them to patiently trust in the sovereignty of God as well as His providential nature.

Enmity, strife, envy, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions & divisions

Relational sin might present as internal works of the flesh (envy, jealousy, etc) or external works of the flesh (enmity, strife, fits of anger, etc).  These works of the flesh oppose Godly patience in that they fail to patiently endure conflict with other people. But when a person walks in the Spirit, divine patience leads them to forgive others, endure through conflict with others, and place the interest of others before self.

Drunkenness
Addiction of any kind is work of the flesh that opposes Godly patience in that it leads a person to rely on a substance for comfort, escape or fulfillment, instead of relying on the Spirit of God for these things. But a person who walks by the Spirit will find comfort, growth, and fulfillment in things that bring about life such as prayer, worship, dwelling in community with the local church, meditation on God's Word, etc.

In the last devotional, we looked at how the world's version of patience is often self-reliant, self-serving, and superficial. This type of patience is limited to human endurance while neglecting the needs of the soul. We see evidence of this throughout each of these above listed works of the flesh that are rampant in the world. God's patience, however, is not of this world and cannot be sourced from our own endurance. God's patience leads us towards repentance and into a reconciled relationship with Himself where we then able to endure temptation while undergoing radical & transformative sanctification.

We desperately need the indwelling Holy Spirit of God to experience and extend God-level patience in this world. And next week we will look at why the world needs to experience the patience of God through the lives of faithful followers of Christ.