5.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Patience means: being slow to anger.
• God is slow to anger and glad to forgive.
• When the Holy Spirit is working in you, he makes God’s patience grow in your heart.
• We can be patient because we have the hope that Jesus Christ is coming again.
• We need patience with: 
  - other people,
  - our circumstances, and
  - our hopes.

5.2 Galatians 5:22-23←⤒🔗

^5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

^5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

© NET Bible

5.3 James 5:7-11←⤒🔗

^5:7 So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains.

^5:8 You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near.

^5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates!

^5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name.

^5:11 Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

 © NET Bible

5.4 God is patient←⤒🔗

What does it mean to be patient? Some English Bibles use the word “longsuffering” instead of “patience.” Patience or longsuffering means: to be slow to anger.

People easily get angry. We react quickly when we feel that someone has done wrong against us. But that is not what God is like. He is “slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8; Psalm 145:8).

God’s patience is the reason why people can be saved. In the time of the Old Testament, God’s people sinned against him many times. But he still kept his promises to them.

Today, God also holds back his anger. He waits for his Day of Judgement. He is kind and good to those people who do not believe in him. He gives them a chance to repent (2 Peter 3:9). He promises to forgive the sins of every person who comes to Jesus Christ. 

Think of your own life, and how God has been patient with you. He does not hold your sins against you (Psalm 130:3-4). He forgives you every day and teaches you his Word. Indeed, he is slow to anger and glad to forgive.

Paul was someone who knew the patience of God. Paul called himself the “worst of sinners.” He understood that Jesus Christ treated him with patience, so that he (Paul) would be an example of how patient God is with us (1 Timothy 1:16).

5.5 Hope makes us patient←⤒🔗

When the Holy Spirit is working in you, other people will see more and more patience in your life. You will not get angry so quickly anymore. That is because the Holy Spirit is making God’s patience grow in your heart.

Christians can be patient, because Christians are people who have hope. We know that Jesus Christ is coming again. We know that on that day, God will bring his kingdom to earth. He will punish all evildoers. He will give new, healthy bodies to his children. We will live with him in perfect happiness, forever.

That is why we can be patient when we are suffering. In James 5:7 we read that a believer should be like a farmer. A farmer plants his seed, but he knows that the fruit will not come in one day! He waits patiently. He waits for the autumn rains. Then he waits for the spring rains. He knows that his patience will be rewarded. In the same way, we as believers know that something very good is coming: the kingdom of God. Because we have this hope, we can wait with patience.

A farmer does not sit and do nothing, while he waits for his harvest. To be patient is not to be passive. James 5:10 says that we must take the prophets as an example of patience. The prophets in the Old Testament did not sit and do nothing. They served God. They spoke his Word to the people. They often suffered for their work.

Think, for example, of Jeremiah. He was often put in prison. Daniel was thrown to the lions. Isaiah preached to a people who did not want to listen. Yet, these people continued to serve God. Their lives show us what true patience looks like. A patient person continues to serve God, even when suffering comes.

Another example of patience is the apostle Paul. He experienced beatings, prison, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger. But in all of these things, he did not get angry. He continued to speak the Word of God in love (2 Corinthians 6:4-7).

5.6 Where we need patience←⤒🔗

Let us look at three areas of life where we need patience:

5.6.1. Patience with people←↰⤒🔗

All people, including Christians, have many sins and weaknesses. That is why we need to have patience with each other. In James 5:9 we read, “Don't grumble against each other.” To grumble means to complain. In the church, we should not complain about each other. We should be like God: slow to anger and glad to forgive.

There are many kinds of people in the church. But this should not cause us to fight and complain. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14, God gives us ways to deal with each kind of person. When someone is making trouble, we should warn that person. When someone is sad or afraid, we should encourage. When someone has a weakness or a problem, we should help. And finally, we should “be patient with everyone.”

We should also be patient with unbelievers. Think of Jesus Christ, who loved his enemies and prayed for them. By being patient with unbelievers, you are helping them to see God’s love!

5.6.2. Patience with circumstances←↰⤒🔗

It is easy to lose your patience when you are suffering. It is easy to become angry with the person who is making you suffer – even if it is your husband or your wife. We can even become angry with God. That is why we need the Holy Spirit to give us patience in difficult circumstances.

In James 5:11, God reminds us of the example of Job. Do you remember what Job said, after he lost everything? He said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). This is true patience: to praise the Lord in all circumstances. Remember that God’s heart is glad when you trust in him, even in difficult circumstances (Psalm 147:11).

5.6.3. Patient with our hope←↰⤒🔗

Do you wish to have your best life now? Is it your greatest wish to become rich, and to leave all your problems behind? Then you are not patient! You need to be patient in the things that you hope for. James wrote his letter to a mixed group of Christians, some rich and some poor. He warned the rich people that God’s judgment was coming. If they lived only for their money, they would be ashamed on that day (James 5:1-6).

In the passage that we have read, James says to all the Christians, “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming” (James 5:7). We must not hope to have our best life now. We must not work for treasures here on earth. We must wait patiently for Jesus Christ to come again. When he comes again, our best life will begin!