I have said it before and I am certain I will say it again – I don’t like patience. I don’t like patience no matter what definition we use. I don’t like to wait. I don’t like to hold up under pressure. I don’t like enduring through trials. Patience is a virtue, they say, and it is a virtue with which I struggle.
Here Jesus speaks of yet another kind of patience. This patience challenges my heart.
The patience of the saints is that they
Keep the commandments of God
They keep the faith of Jesus Christ
There is a sense where patience is the same as persistence. In this case patience means that the saints persist in keeping God’s commands and they persist in being true to the faith. That is after all, the ultimate test. True believers will persist. False professors will fall by the wayside. Its not a matter of keeping or losing salvation. It is a matter of proving we have salvation by patiently keeping God’s commands and the faith He has entrusted to us.
Do our lives reflect this kind of patience?
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